A leading Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker yesterday said that her party would oppose any attempts by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to oust her colleagues through recall elections, and suggested that the KMT could retaliate by launching campaigns of its own to recall DPP lawmakers.
KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said that her party faced a “menacing recall wave” instigated by the DPP, but the KMT would “definitely face it head-on.”
“The KMT does not rule out the possibility of [attempting to] recall DPP lawmakers in some constituencies,” she said, adding that DPP legislators Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤), Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶), Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸) would be “possible targets for retaliatory recall campaigns” by the KMT.
Photo: Liu Wan-lin, Taipei Times
Wang was speaking in response to comments made by DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), who the previous day said that “the 41 district-elected lawmakers from the KMT must be recalled” because they had voted for bills that were either “against the Constitution” or risked “selling out Taiwan.”
Ker was referring to 39 KMT lawmakers who were directly elected by voters in their constituencies and two KMT-aligned independents who might be subject to recall votes under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
However, the DPP later yesterday distanced itself from Ker’s proposal, suggesting that any attempt to oust opposition politicians from the legislature was not official party policy.
Rosalia Wu, who doubles as the DPP caucus chief executive, said on Saturday afternoon that although Ker’s comments represented the feelings of DPP supporters, the party “has not guided or intervened in any recall [attempts].”
The DPP also issued a statement on Saturday afternoon, saying that the party “has not had any specific discussions about election recall [campaigns].”
KMT lawmakers, including Wang, have accused the DPP of targeting its elected officials by secretly directing non-partisan election recall campaign organizations.
The KMT has openly supported politicians facing election recall campaigns.
In one recent high-profile campaign, Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of the KMT survived a vote to remove him from office in October last year after 55 percent of valid votes rejected his recall.
‘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 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
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