The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will discuss whether to reshuffle its leading personnel at the weekly meeting of its Central Standing Committee next week, a senior party official said Saturday.
DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and his two deputies, Lee Ying-yuan (
Lee Ying-yuan said President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who doubles as DPP chairman, has not immediately accepted their resignations.
"The issue will be addressed at the DPP's weekly meeting [tomorrow]," Lee said.
The DPP garnered 89 of the 225 legislative seats up for grabs, a rise of two seats from the previous level, while its vote ratio also edged up 2.34 percent. Nevertheless, it fell far short of the DPP's target of winning 96 to 101 seats, and the pan-green camp failed to win a majority in the legislature -- a necessity if the Chen administration was to follow through with its reform agenda.
Asked whether Premier Yu Shyi-kun will step down and whether the Cabinet should be reshuffled, Lee said the issue has not been discussed.
"The competition [in the election] was very fierce. The fact that we managed to gain more seats and more votes indicated that our reform agenda has received popular support," Lee said.
As 14 of the party's incumbent lawmakers failed to win re-election, Lee said the DPP headquarters, and himself in particular, will assume full responsibility for the failure of the party's "vote-allocation" campaign strategy.
Meanwhile, DPP legislative whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said the DPP should take the initiative to push for reconciliation and cooperation with the opposition pan-blue camp of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.