Alliance of Referendum for Taiwan convener Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) said he is considering establishing a new political party that openly advocates Taiwanese independence, saying that such a party would be necessary as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been inconsistent in its China policy.
In a recent interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), Tsai described the proposed party as “pro-independence” and “left wing,” adding that the party’s goal would be pursuing de jure Taiwanese independence, a goal that no existing party publicly espouses, including the DPP, the Taiwan Solidarity Union or the Taiwan Citizen Union (TCU) — an organization formed last year to push for political reform.
The DPP does not seem to have made up its mind on major cross-strait issues such as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) or the cross-strait service trade agreement — appearing to regularly shift its stance — and this vacillation is unsettling for supporters, Tsay said.
Tsay predicted the DPP would win the presidency and take over the legislature in next year’s presidential and legislative elections, and a left wing, pro-independence party should be formed as a check to the DPP, he said.
However, Tsay said his priority right now is to enable a transfer of power in the upcoming presidential election and prevent the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) winning a majority in the legislature.
Asked whether his proposed new party would trigger a split in the pan-green camp, he said that competition for voters among the pan-green camp would not be an issue, as his new party would only campaign for legislator-at-large seats.
He said he would be hurt if the DPP saw the party as a competitor and tried to push it out of the pan-green camp.
While still considering the possibility of formally establishing a new party, he said that a left-wing, pro-independence party would reflect public sentiment, as momentum among independence activists toward forming new parties is growing.
A group of activists led by singer Freddy Lim (林昶佐) and lawyer Lin Feng-jeng last week left the TCU to form a new party — the New Power Party (NPP) — and TCU president Fan Yun (范雲) is reportedly planning to found a new party next month, heralding a boom in new parties, Tsay said.
Amid the launch of a flurry of small political parties, the TCU and its affiliates would aim to garner support from voters with moderate views, or voters leaning toward the pan-blue camp, whereas his “dark-green” party would be on the other side of the political spectrum, he said.
According to Tsay, while groups such as the World United Formosans for Independence and Restoration of Taiwan Social Justice are largely positive toward his proposal to set up a new party, most other independence activists have said they do not have sufficient resources to form a new pro-independence party.
He is still giving the idea of forming a new party thought, Tsay said, adding that among the issues he needs to resolve are finding a suitable person to head the party and tabling a list of candidates for legislator-at-large seats.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant