The People First Party (PFP) charged yesterday that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is improperly using the political clout of major party-affiliated government officials to raise money for its candidates running in the year-end legislative elections.
Referring to recent media reports that the DPP has set fundraising guidelines for influential party members, PFP spokesman Liu Wen-hsiung (
He added that the guidelines, and the secrecy surrounding party donations, smacks of political extortion.
"We've already received complaints from several businesspeople that they've been under pressure from people in power to give money," Liu said yesterday.
In response, DPP Deputy Secretary-General Chung Chia-pin (
According to recent media reports, the DPP has set fundraising goals for most of its political heavyweights, in order to increase the party's campaign war chest for its year-end legislative candidates.
According to reports, the party has given Vice President Annette Lu (
Chung confirmed that those DPP fundraising targets are correct.
"The DPP should not allow any party members that are now government officials to endorse the campaigns of legislative candidates," Liu said. "After all, are there really any businesses that will refuse the request of a premier or a vice president for money? These businesses are donating money to buy `insurance' from the people with administrative power."
"`Green gold' is more terrible than black gold [corruptly-obtained money]," PFP legislator Pang Chien-kuo (
Liu and Pang made their comments during a press conference held yesterday.
Earlier, relevant government officials, such as Yu and Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we