Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) officials voiced their opposition yesterday to the possible selection of DPP lawmaker Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) as deputy speaker of the legislature.
Party lawmakers and officials said that Shen has been hostile toward the TSU and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the party's spiritual leader, since the TSU was founded in August last year.
Critic of Lee
"Shen has been very critical of Lee Teng-hui, calling him formidable and cruel." He always looks down on the TSU," said Huang Chin-lang (
At a meeting yesterday, TSU legislator-elect Chen Chien-ming (
"Initially he was opposed to the founding of the TSU. After the party was established he said the TSU would steal votes from the DPP and suggested that the DPP should not cooperate with the TSU. He once even said the TSU will win no more than three seats in the [legislative] elections," Chen said.
The director of the party's department of culture and information, Hsiao Kwan-yu (
Huang called on his party members not to support Shen, saying, "the TSU would support anyone nominated by the DPP other than Shen."
The director of the pro-Taiwan party accused Shen of not being strong enough in his support of Taiwan. Huang said he hoped the DPP would pick someone who agrees with the TSU's localization principle.
In contrast to the stern reaction from Huang and Chen, the party's deputy secretary-general, Lin Jih-chia (林志嘉), appeared relatively unperturbed, declining to comment directly on the DPP lawmaker under attack.
TSU complaints
"The party has not yet decided who to support and who not to support, but it is true that some party members have had complaints about Shen," Lin said.
"The party will make a final decision after consulting former president Lee; the 13 TSU lawmakers will support the same ticket."
Lin added that the party will only support the incumbent legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), the KMT vice chairman, in his bid for re-election under the condition that his deputy is not a PFP member.
Lin said that if the KMT plans to cooperate with the PFP, the TSU will not rule out the possibility of nominating its own candidate to compete against theirs.
The election for the leaders of the Legislative Yuan will be held on Feb. 1. Shen appears to be the most likely candidate to be chosen as deputy speaker.
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS