“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.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
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