Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰) yesterday said he had initiated a signature drive calling on the party to immediately withdraw its appeal of a court ruling on Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) party membership.
Lu said he hoped the long drawn out litigation would come to an end soon, which “would be favorable to the party’s unity and reform efforts.”
Lu said he already has the support of about 20 KMT legislators — about one-third of the party’s 63 members in the 113-seat legislature.
The lawsuit involving Wang’s KMT membership has caused a serious rift in the party, Lu said.
“Whatever the party’s reason for filing the appeal, outsiders will see it as internal party conflict,” he said. “This will add to the KMT’s troubles and will not help its efforts at reform and unity.”
He expressed the hope that New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), who assumed leadership of the KMT earlier yesterday, would heed the call of the majority of party members and retract the appeal as soon as possible.
In September 2013, the KMT’s Evaluation and Discipline Committee revoked Wang’s membership amid allegations that he had used his influence to sway a legal case.
The incident was dubbed by the media as the “September strife” between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the KMT chairman at the time, and Wang.
The committee’s decision could have cost Wang his seat as a KMT legislator-at-large and his position as legislative speaker, which he has held since 1999, but he fought back by suing the KMT for stripping him of his membership.
Both the Taipei District Court and the Taiwan High Court ruled in favor of Wang, and the KMT filed an appeal with the Supreme Court late last year.
Lin Rong-te (林榮德), a member of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee, yesterday said that many of the committee’s members support Lu’s view that the appeal should be withdrawn.
“This involves the future of the KMT, and everyone expects the matter to be brought to a close,” Lin said, adding that he would communicate with Chu over the next two days.
“Everyone knows that Wang is an asset in the legislature and we need him more than ever at this time,” Lin said.
Meanwhile, Wang said he would respect whatever decision Chu makes on the matter of the appeal.
“Let things take their natural course,” he said, adding that he had not been aware of Lu’s proposal.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS