The "new Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) movement" faced an early death after DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) convened party heavyweights on Saturday night for talks on recent controversies, and agreed that the movement should be silenced forever.
In the wake of flak from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) over the new DPP movement, which advocates self-criticism and reforms, Su on Saturday convened an urgent meeting of party members from each faction to address recent quarrels among them.
Those who attended the meeting included Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), secretary-general of the Justice Alliance (正義連線), Chiu Chuei-chen (邱垂貞), chief of the Welfare State Alliance (福利國連線), Chen Sheng-hung (陳勝宏), convener of the Green Alliance (綠色連線), Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), convener of the New Tide (新潮流) faction and other party higher-ups, including legislative caucus whips William Lai (賴清德) and Jao Yung-ching (趙永清), DPP Legislators Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) and Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), and DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋).
PHOTO: CNA
After about two hours of discussion, Su held a news conference at about 10pm and announced that a consensus had been reached on two points.
First, the DPP will fully support the six reforms pledged by the president during his National Day speech and the legislative caucus will propose concrete reforms with the administrative departments of the Executive Yuan. Second, the legislative caucus will establish a negotiation and communication mechanism to help carry out reforms, according to Su.
"Today's consensus is that the DPP will stick to reforms. And reforms will not influence consolidation. Our consolidation is for the sake of reforms," Su said on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, party officials also discussed the controversial new DPP movement, which has ignited internal feuds between the party's New Tide faction and other factions. Officials agreed that the factions should call a truce and never bring up the term "the new DPP movement" again.
Additionally, the airing of criticisms or rumors through the press is also prohibited, Su said.
Su added that he supported the spirit of the new DPP movement, but the title seemed inappropriate.
"There is no problem of the new DPP or the old DPP. There is only a problem of reforming or not." Su said. "We will not allow internal attacks among factions after this."
Other participants voiced similar views, saying that little communication had occurred before the movement had been proposed, and that its advocates had offered few practical measures for its implementation, which only hurt the DPP's image and unity.
In the face of criticism from Su and other party members, Tuan, one of the movement's advocates and also the convener of the New Tide faction, did not respond directly to it, saying only that Su's statement was the basis for any questions about the new DPP movement.
A vessel owned by Taiwan’s cargo container shipping company Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp caught fire after an explosion occurred in a container on board while the ship was at the busy Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in eastern China on Friday. Yang Ming Marine confirmed the incident and said a preliminary investigation found that the explosion occurred in a container on its vessel, the YM Mobility, which reportedly arrived in Ningbo early on Friday morning after its last call in Shanghai. “Immediate fire control measures were taken, and the situation is now under control,” Yang Ming Marine said in a statement. “All crew
The number of foreign students attending Taiwanese universities last year dropped 9.46 percent from 2019, mainly due to a marked decline in the number of Chinese students, the National Audit Office said in a report. Last year, there were 116,038 foreign students — 67,299 degree students and 48,739 non-degree students — a decrease of 12,119, or 9.46 percent, from 128,157 in 2019, the report said. China in 2020 stopped allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan, saying that COVID-19 pandemic controls and “the cross-strait situation” were the reasons for the change. Chinese who had already come to Taiwan were allowed finish their
‘UNITING TAIWAN’: While the boxer’s home town is offering free train and sports center access, stores around the nation are offering discounts to celebrate her victory New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday declared Aug. 12 “Lin Yu-ting Day” after the Taiwanese boxer won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg category at the Paris Olympics. Lin’s hometown is in the city’s Yingge District (鶯歌). The final between Lin and Poland’s Julia Szeremeta was broadcast live at the city hall early yesterday morning, where Hou, Lin’s mother and more than 200 people rooted for her. Thunderous roars and applause erupted at the city hall when the referee lifted Lin’s hand to show she had won. To celebrate Lin’s hard-won victory, Aug. 12 would be designated Lin
HUGE UPGRADE: Once Terminal 3 is completed, the airport’s passenger service capacity would expand to 82 million travelers per year from 37 million, an official said The north concourse of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 is scheduled to begin operations in the middle of next year, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said yesterday. The Terminal 3 project was launched as the number of air travelers accessing the nation’s largest international airport each year has already exceeded the combined capacity of terminals 1 and 2. The two existing terminals were designed to be accessed by 37 million air travelers per year. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, about 48.36 million accessed the airport in 2019. The airport operator yesterday organized a field trip for reporters to see Terminal 3 construction