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Standing Committee, yesterday said that many of the committee’s members support Lu’s view that the appeal should be withdrawn.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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS