The Taiwan Action Party Alliance (TAPA), formed yesterday with the support of traditional pan-green voters and Taiwanese independence groups, could draw a sizeable block of votes away from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), political figures attending the party’s launch said.
Many people who joined TAPA yesterday said that they were dissatisfied with the actions and policies of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her administration, adding that they would have preferred to see former premier William Lai (賴清德) become the DPP’s presidential nominee.
“A Tsai-Lai ticket would improve Tsai’s chance of winning, but we are not sure if that would be the best combination,” former presidential advisor Wu Li-pei (吳澧培) said.
“To be honest, I am very disappointed with Tsai’s performance in her first three years as president,” he said.
“However, she has recently said things that we are more receptive to, so in the near future, we will pay more attention to what she does than to what she says,” he added.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who announced she was leaving the DPP last year after it did not pick her to be its Taipei mayoral candidate, was loudly applauded as she condemned Tsai and the DPP for their policy direction.
Many long-time DPP members had sacrificed much in fighting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime to achieve democracy in Taiwan, Lu said, but “through changing administrations a few times, the DPP has become, so many believe, more like the KMT.”
“What happened to the DPP’s founding ideals?” she said. “Where are the DPP’s moral values — the party’s soul?”
Lu compared Taiwan’s current situation to that of the Titanic, saying: “This ship could hit an iceberg and sink if the leaders at the helm make blunders.”
She urged the parties that support Taiwanese independence to form an alliance for next year’s presidential election.
“With so many new parties being formed, I worry that Taiwan’s democracy might become a bubble that will burst,” Lu said. “I want to convince the leaders of these groups, who have similar aims and principles, to consolidate their forces, because we cannot afford to split further.”
Most people who support TAPA are DPP members, but they are very unhappy with Tsai’s stance on maintaining the “status quo” and her unwillingness to push the Taiwan-independence issue, said former Taiwan Independence Party chairman Tseng Miao-hung (曾淼泓), a retired army colonel, adding that they think she is afraid of Beijing.
“Tsai’s policies and stance on several core issues have created their dissatisfaction, and TAPA is drawing grassroots support away from the DPP, which could be critical in January’s elections,” he said.
‘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 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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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
RSS