The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) began a new chapter as the senior members — dubbed the party’s princes and princesses by the media — have all refrained from entering the chairmanship election, DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday.
“It wasn’t easy for the princes and princesses to refrain from making a bid, which means it is agreed by all within the party that it should have a new beginning,” Hsieh said.
Addressing party members at a conference discussing the future of the DPP, which was badly beaten in the last three national elections, Hsieh said he expected the party could be completely transformed by a new leader.
Hsieh offered to resign as chairman after losing the presidential election to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) last month.
The party will hold the election for chairman on May 18.
Following the decision by former vice premier Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), 52, who many members consider a dream leader for the embattled party, to join the race at the last minute, the party will start coordination with Tsai and the other two candidates this week.
DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), 73, and former senior presidential advisor Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏), 82, have also joined the race.
Tsai was selected as a legislator-at-large for the party in the 2005 legislative elections after she registered as a member of the 22-year-old DPP in September 2004.
Yesterday’s meeting concluded a series of eight conferences held around the country over the past two weeks that enabled supporters and party members to examine and suggest ways to solve the party’s problems.
Issues on the agenda at yesterday’s closed-door meeting included the lines the party should take when in power, the organizational development of the party and how the party should face national challenges surrounding the country internationally and domestically.
Conclusions pertaining to the DPP’s charter and platform will be sent to the party’s convention next month for full review, party Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
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Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening. When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team. However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku
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