Ambiguity over party values has emerged within the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), a source said on Monday, adding that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is the TPP chairman, would need to reflect on how to strengthen party values for it to stand a chance of success in next year’s local elections.
Ko, in his second term as mayor, has said that if everything goes well, he plans to run for president in 2024.
The TPP received more than 1.58 million party votes in its debut election in January last year, winning five legislator-at-large seats and becoming eligible to nominate a presidential candidate for 2024.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the party has some internal problems that need to be addressed, including ambiguous party values and a perceived lack of discourse on issues important to the public by the party’s leadership.
“For example, on the issue of [former Kaohsiung mayor] Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) recall, the party could not nail down a position,” the source said.
Not having a firm position on the matter was a lost opportunity for the party during the by-election in August last year that followed Han’s recall on June 6, the source added.
“We were routed in Kaohsiung and now Ko’s heart is not in running the party, but he also refuses to quit. This often leads to internal disputes,” the source said. “Ko’s political discourse has not changed since 2014 and he does not like to take a stance on hotly debated political topics. He is out of touch with public opinion, so how can he expect to gain support?”
Meanwhile, TPP Secretary-General Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) said that the party must accept that Ko’s election successes would likely be limited to Taipei.
“It’s not necessarily the case that the party would have the same success in other counties and municipalities, or that Ko’s popularity would rub off on other party candidates,” Hsieh said.
To prepare for next year’s local elections, the TPP over the coming year would need to get more in touch with the public and build stronger grassroots support by setting up offices throughout the nation, he said.
Ko should leverage his positive track record as Taipei mayor in his potential campaign for president in the 2024 election, Hsieh added.
Hsieh denied that there were any internal problems in the TPP, saying that having a diversity of opinions was normal for a political party.
Given that the TPP is a smaller party, it must prepare early for the local elections, TPP Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) said, adding that the party had already appointed its five legislators areas of the nation in which to campaign.
‘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
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
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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RSS