The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairmanship election became a two-way race between the young and the old as one of the conservative candidates yesterday withdrew to form an alliance with the 82-year-old former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏).
Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) on Monday announced his withdrawal from the race and yesterday urged his supporters to back Koo in Sunday's election.
Describing Koo as his "close comrade-in-arms," Chai said he has known Koo for over 40 years and was deeply touched by Koo's devotion to the country when Koo vowed to dedicate the remainder of his life to the party and the country.
PHOTO: CNA
Chai said the party needs a leader who is resolute in his position of localization and establishment of a new republic to counter president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九 of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
"Tsai Ing-wen's (蔡英文) stance on localization is very vague, not to mention the stance of the [now disbanded] New Tide faction that supports her," Chai said. "Why do we need her since we have Ma Ying-jeou already?"
Chai singled out former New Tide heavyweights Hung Chi-chang (洪其昌), Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) and Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) for bringing trouble to the party.
PHOTO: CNA
He also criticized former DPP legislators Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) and Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉)for harshly denouncing the party when the party was in trouble while keeping silent about the Papua New Guinea fund scandal.
If Tsai was to be elected, Chai said, those people would be recruited to the party and the party would become a place where there would be "no sense of right or wrong" and "no show of respect for the elders."
"I would really hate to see the party become a battlefield of factional infighting," he said. "A way to prevent it from happening is to support Koo so those people will not infiltrate the party headquarters."
Koo commended Chai's move as "taking the first step toward future inner-party reconciliation and unity."
One of the important missions of the new party chief, Koo said, is to return to power in 2012.
Former DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun yesterday endorsed Koo's chairmanship bid and praised Chai's withdrawal, saying it would boost the odds of Koo's victory.
At a different setting, Tsai said the alliance between Koo and Chai may have some impact on her election but she is "cautiously optimistic" about her bid.
She dismissed Chai's allegation that she is vague in her localization position, saying that she is not any different from her contenders in this regard.
Commenting on Chai's criticism of factional support for her bid, Chai said the party will never be able to get back on its feet again if some indulge themselves in such "hackneyed ideas."
Pointing out that the DPP has grown from "a party of ideals" to "a party of realization," Tsai said the key to Sunday's election lies in the candidate who has the ability to put ideals into practice.
She said that during her stint as the head of the Mainland Affairs Council, she stabilized cross-strait relations and opened up cross-strait interactions but she never abandoned the nation's sovereignty.
Sunday's DPP chairmanship election is a choice between the past and the future, reminiscent of the struggles of the past and yet a courageous march forward. It represents the closing of one door and the opening of another door, she said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS