An aide of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairmanship candidate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) yesterday tried to turn tomorrow’s election into a competition between the party’s disbanded factions.
“The DPP will have a greater chance of splitting if Koo wins the chairmanship election, because the [disbanded] New Tide faction might decide to leave the party,” Koo’s campaign manager and former secretary-general of the Presidential Office Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) said yesterday.
Chen made the remarks during an interview with a Tainan-based radio station in an attempt to appeal to party members who oppose the disbanded New Tide faction.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
The DPP voted to dissolve all its factions in July 2006, but the New Tide faction, which often drew the ire of the other factions, has been accused of disbanding in name only.
Koo’s rival in the election, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), has been labeled a member of the faction, despite the fact that she did not become a registered DPP member until 2004.
The two candidates have outlined different approaches to leading the party, with the 82-year-old Koo concentrating on the party’s role in advocating Taiwan’s independence, while the younger Tsai, who has served as vice premier and Mainland Council Affairs chairwoman, has proposed a pragmatic approach to dealing with cross-strait relations and other issues.
Chen suggested Tsai compete with Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) in the 2010 Taipei mayoral election, saying that the next election for local government heads will be an important step for the DPP to regaining power in the 2012 presidential election.
In related news, DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday that he would form a shadow government to watch over the incoming KMT administration after handing over his position to his successor on Wednesday.
“I won’t take a do-nothing attitude on the development of the DPP, even when I am a normal party member,” Hsieh said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
EARTHQUAKE: Taipei and New Taipei City accused a construction company of ignoring the Circular MRT’s original design, causing sections to shift by up to 92cm The Taipei and New Taipei City governments yesterday said they would seek NT$1.93 billion (US$58.6 million) in compensation from the company responsible for building the Circular MRT Line, following damage sustained during an earthquake in April last year that had shuttered a section for months. BES Engineering Corp, a listed company under Core Pacific Group, was accused of ignoring the original design when constructing the MRT line, resulting in negative shear strength resistance and causing sections of the rail line between Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts to shift by up to 92cm during the April 3 earthquake. The pot bearings on
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