Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday played down criticism from his long-time political rival and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) upon his return to Taipei after a six-day visit to Europe, stressing party consolidation in an election year.
Su dodged media inquiries about Hsieh’s criticism against his leadership and intention to run both in the chairman election in May and the presidential election in 2016, saying that the most important task for the party is “consolidation and answering the public’s concerns.”
“The most important task for the DPP is consolidation and winning the seven-in-one local election [in November],” Su told reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Hsieh was quoted by former DPP lawmaker Julian Kuo (郭正亮) as saying in a recent private conversation that he would make Su “miserable to the very end” if the “incompetent” chairman dared to declare a bid on the party’s presidential nomination as a re-elected chairman.
As Kuo’s article was published after Su’s departure and several lawmakers who are close to Hsieh began advocating the idea that the party chairman should not be a presidential candidate around the same time, the moves had been interpreted as an indication of Hsieh’s interests in vying for the DPP chairmanship despite Hsieh giving ambiguous answers about his possible bid.
Hsieh was also reportedly seeking to form a coalition with former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in an the arrangement that would allow Hsieh to run for chairman and Tsai to focus on her presidential campaign.
Tsai, who denied the existence of such an alliance, said yesterday during a visit to New Taipei City (新北市) that while consolidation would be crucial, “the DPP’s inner competition would be inevitable,” adding that the practical goal would be “harmonious competition within the party and the eventual election of a chairman with the mandate of strong member support and social recognition.”
The former DPP presidential candidate has been tight-lipped about her plans, but could have the same strategy as Su, looking to win the chairmanship before securing the presidential nomination.
The highlights of Su’s trip to Germany, Belgium and the UK included visits to the European Parliament and the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, where he said in a speech that the DPP would not revise the Taiwan independence clause in its party charter, but that the party would seek active and confident engagement with China.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
RSS