Independent lawmakers Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) and Chen Chin-ting (陳進丁) yesterday said they have decided to put on hold a plan for the establishment of a new political party.
Lo and Chen said the decision was made partly because they think political issues should be downplayed for the time being, when improvement to the economy is what most people seek.
The lawmakers, meanwhile, admitted that they are watching the development of another new political party aligned with former president Lee Teng-hui (
Lo, who had previously expressed an intention to leave his constituency in Taipei County to run in Taipei City, said he has not made a final decision as to whether to seek re-election.
"I'm now taking a wait-and-see attitude. As economic conditions are worsening, working to save the economy should come before politics," Lo said.
Lo and Chen originally planned to established their party later this month.
Expected members of the party are all from the National Non-Party League (
In addition to Lo and Chen, the other four are Tsai Hau (
The organization of the new party has been going on for months, and KMT legislator and business tycoon Gary Wang (王令麟) has reportedly planned to work with the League to organize the new party.
Wang, however, announced in June that he would not seek re-election and denied plans to join any new political party. The new party's reputation as a union of "black-gold" politicians is believed to be a reason for Wang's withdrawal.
While organizers of the new party said that they would continue their plans despite Wang's decision, the work is taking place in a more low-profile manner than before.
Chen Chin-ting yesterday said that the new party will definitely be founded, but the date of its establishment might be postponed until the next legislative session reopens in September.
Chen said lawmakers from the league, making use of the time during which the legislature is adjourned, are too busy with the year-end legislative election campaigns to meet and finalize their work.
Chen said that the preparatory work for the party's organization has been completed, and a total of 27 politicians, including a number of former deputies to the National Assembly and Taiwan Provincial Assembly, are potential members of the party and will represent it when running in the year-end elections.
None of the 27 have thus far expressed any intention of joining Huang's party.
Many politicians have reportedly been in contact with both of the new party groupings and are comparing the campaign funds offered by the two.
Campaign costs can range from NT$10 million to NT$100 million per candidate.
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,
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.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS