Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) no longer concerns her as it has ceased to be the party that she once dedicated her life to.
“At a time when Taiwan is losing its presence in the international arena and cross-strait peace is facing greater threats than ever, my country is still fighting and is overshadowed by improper electoral tactics. I am heartbroken,” Lu told reporters after arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport from Malaysia last night.
As the DPP has lost its founding spirit, Lu is no longer interested in party politics or elections, she said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Her remarks came one day after her office issued a cryptic statement indicating the former vice president’s wish to leave the DPP after failing to secure the party’s nomination as its Taipei mayoral candidate.
The DPP’s Central Standing Committee on Wednesday named DPP Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) as the party’s candidate to run against independent Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Ting Shou-chung (丁守中).
“People with differing ideas cannot work together,” Lu said in the statement. “Bye, bye, DPP.”
Lu’s office did not respond to reporters’ questions about whether the statement meant that she was renouncing her DPP membership.
The DPP responded with a short statement, saying that the former vice president’s decision was regrettable, but that the party would respect it.
Asked to comment, Yao on Wednesday said that he would rather not believe that Lu had taken such a position.
When asked by reporters whether she would consider running as an independent, Lu did not give a direct answer, saying only that she would not rule out any possibilities.
Lu, 74, served as vice president from 2000 to 2008 and has been a member of the party, which was founded in 1986, since November 1990.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS