In a meeting with lawmakers yesterday, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said that for the government to truly demonstrate its ability to crackdown on gangster and money politics it should not cower from public representatives who are widely known for their corruption.
"The crackdown on gangsters and criminal organizations should reach those individuals, so that the public will be able to believe in the government," Chen was quoted as saying by DPP lawmaker Chang Ching-fang (張清芳).
"If the government can keep these individuals from participating in the elections, or ensure they do not win, then we can say that we have been successful."
While Chen did not specify which lawmakers he was referring to, Chang said that Chen's comment referred to individuals like Lo Fu-chu (羅福助), the spiritual leader of the Tiendaomeng Gang (天道盟), Lin Ming-yi (林明義) and Wu Jzer-yuan (伍澤元).
DPP lawmakers also urged the president not to cooperate with such individuals even if it might help to temporarily stabilize the political situation or to gain a majority in the legislature.
"The main policy of the DPP is to oppose money and gangster politics and to lead this reform and those people are the target of our reform," Chen was quoted as saying.
"It would be impossible to cooperate with them. I believe that in this year's legislative elections Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) will be very successful in his efforts to crackdown on vote-buying."
During meetings with DPP lawmakers this week, Chen has stressed several times that the government will never cooperate with such individuals.
The DPP is expected to capture 85 seats in the year-end elections. With that number of seats in the Legislative Yuan, the ruling party would need another 35 seats to gain a solid majority. There are 225 seats in the legislature, of which the DPP currently holds 67.
Asked by DPP lawmakers who the DPP's partner would be after the year-end elections, Chen did not elaborate, lawmakers said.
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
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