“The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] will never have ties with gangsters as long as I remain party chairman,” DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday.
Su made the remarks after a magazine alleged DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) had endorsed known criminals for DPP membership.
The Chinese-language the Journalist magazine on Wednesday reported that members of the “Sun Gang,” a subsidiary of the Tientaomen (天道盟) criminal organization, were among about 500 recent applicants for DPP membership, who were endorsed by Ker.
The magazine alleged Ker’s introduction of these applicants was likely a preparatory step toward next year’s DPP chairmanship party primary.
Ker on Wednesday rejected the media report, saying that he had never been involved in party factions and had never organized nominal party members.
In response to media queries yesterday, Su said he himself had been the victim of mafia activity incited by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the past, and that as long as he remained at the helm of the party, the DPP would never allow mafia elements to enter its ranks.
Su’s aides later said that Su was referring to an incident in 1993 in which Su’s attempt to run for another term as Pingtung County commissioner was thwarted by mafia activity organized by Cheng Tai-chi (鄭太吉).
Su yesterday said the party would demand its local party branches to place all party applications under the strictest standards of screening and employ the party’s anti-mafia regulations to the fullest.
Meanwhile, as former DPP legislator Kuo Cheng-liang (郭正亮) and Ker went head-to-head over the incident, Su called upon party members to restrain themselves from attacking fellow party members without substantial evidence or proof.
The DPP is a political party with a history, but despite that it still has a working system, Su said, adding that since its founding in 1986, party members have had great expectations and hopes for the party and wanted to see it improve, but that was no reason for baseless slander of fellow members.
“If any member has concrete proof, they should provide said proof to party headquarters, the party would take all claims seriously and launch a thorough probe accordingly,” Su said.
Meanwhile, the party’s deputy secretary-general Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) said the DPP has strict and precise regulations on member recruitment, party invitations, party fee payments and party member rights, adding that the party has numerous times made resolutions prohibiting the payment of party funds by proxy.
ACCESS DENIAL: Beijing would likely take formation in the Philippine Sea, outside Taipei’s missile range, while its forces on the east would be a deterrent to foreign aid China is increasingly likely to employ a strategy of anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) around Taiwan, which would use three carrier groups, a report from the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. When China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is completed next year, China would have three carriers, which would likely be used to surround Taiwan and implement an A2/AD strategy, it said, adding that efforts to strengthen China’s two other carriers — the Liaoning and the Shandong — appear to corroborate this. In the quarterly report, the council cited declassified documents from the Ministry of National Defense that categorized China’s carriers as
Two German warships are awaiting orders from Berlin to determine whether they would be the first German naval vessels in decades to pass through the Taiwan Strait next month, at the risk of stoking tensions with Beijing, a German commander said. While the US and other nations, including Canada, have sent warships through the narrow strait in recent weeks, it would be the German navy’s first passage through the Strait since 2002. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, and says it has jurisdiction over the nearly 180km waterway that divides the two sides. Taiwan strongly objects to these claims, saying only its people
Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley yesterday called for more international backing for Taiwan and a coordinated pushback against China’s claims over the nation. “The United States should elevate Taiwan on the world stage. You should no longer be silenced in global affairs,” Haley told an audience at the Ketagalan Forum, a Taipei conference focused on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. She called for Taiwan to become a full member of the UN, even though it is being blocked by China from representation in international bodies. While the US does not formally recognize Taiwan, it is the nation's strongest
INCH BY INCH: Beijing has adopted a ‘salami slicing’ strategy to gradually erode the sovereignty of the Republic of China in the Taiwan Strait, an expert said A Chinese patrol and law enforcement operation in the Taiwan Strait could indirectly expand Beijing’s jurisdiction to the median line of the Strait in an attempt to eliminate jurisdictional gaps, Taiwanese experts said. The operation, jointly launched by the Chinese Ministry of Transport’s Fujian Maritime Safety Administration and its East China Sea Rescue Bureau, was conducted from Saturday to Sunday, after China’s three-and-a-half-month fishing moratorium concluded on Friday last week, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The operation — which Beijing said is designed to “enhance traffic management and emergency rescue capabilities in the Strait to ensure the safety of vessels, facilities