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.
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