Facing a succession of denunciations from colleagues over suggestions for internal party reform, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight yesterday went on the offensive against his critics and defended his "new DPP movement."
Taipei County commissioner candidate Luo Wen-jia (
OLD-TIME SPIRIT
On the eve of the DPP's national convention, which was supposed to be held yesterday, but was delayed because of Typhoon Longwang, Luo and former legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), who is also the convener of the DPP's largest faction -- the New Tide Faction (新潮流) -- on Saturday proposed launching a "new DPP movement" to reignite the party's founding spirit and passion, which they said seems to have worn down since the DPP came to power.
Although Luo and Tuan's proposal gained support from some young lawmakers and reform advocates, DPP legislators Lin Chung-mo (
"Lo wants to advertise himself as a new and young political idol who has ideals and ability to reform, and smears others As being anti-reform," Lin said.
In response to these accusations, Luo did not seem frustrated, saying "I'm not worried about how people talked about me. Instead, I'm only worried that people won't talk about my idea."
"Besides, I don't think it would do me any good if the DPP is not in shape," he added.
Luo said that his motive for launching the "new DPP movement" derived from a frequent question he was asked when he visited voters during his campaign: "What's wrong with the DPP?"
"I think this is a very important message for the DPP," Luo said. "As a member of the governing party and a political figure, it is necessary for us to have the ability of introspection."
"However, introspection doesn't necessarily mean that we are wrong. It means we should understand people's feelings with a more humble heart," he said.
Lo added that people's questions about the DPP could be viewed as good, since it showed they still cared about the party.
"I think our DPP colleagues should face these questions honestly and bravely, and find out what the problems are and try to fix them," Luo said.
When discussing how to revive the DPP, Tuan and Luo have reached an agreement that "it [the new DPP movement] has to be proposed before the elections," Lo said.
"Because we both agreed that it would be too late to win back people's fervor after they have lost it," Luo said.
BICKERING
Seeing that the government had gone nowhere because of political infighting between the pan-blue and pan-green camps over the past few years, Luo said he does not want the same thing to happen in the Taipei County Government, where he might become the leader.
"My campaign theme is to extend former county commissioner Su Tseng-chang's (
Luo said that he understood voters might be more concerned about the issues relating to the county government, rather than a political party's internal affairs.
"But we have noticed that the DPP government's recent negative news coverage has influenced voters' polling behavior and support, and we suspect it would have a certain degree of impact on the DPP's elections nationwide, which we need to address," Luo said.
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
A Taiwanese software developer has created a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model to help people use AI without exposing sensitive data, project head Huang Chung-hsiao (黃崇校) said yesterday. Huang, a 55-year-old coder leading a US-based team, said that concerns over data privacy and security in popular generative AIs such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek motivated him to develop a personal AI assistant named “Mei.” One of the biggest security flaws with cloud-based algorithms is that users are required to hand over personal information to access the service, giving developers the opportunity to mine user data, he said. For this reason, many government agencies and
The National Fire Agency on Thursday said a series of drills simulating a magnitude 8.5 earthquake would be held in September to enhance the government’s emergency response capabilities. Since earthquakes cannot be predicted, only by continuously promoting disaster prevention measures could Taiwan enhance its resilience to earthquakes, agency Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) said in a news release. The exercises would be held to mark annual National Disaster Prevention Day on Sept. 21, the aim of which is to test Taiwan’s preparedness and improve its earthquake resilience in case of a major temblor, Hsiao said. As part of those drills, an earthquake alert would
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
RSS