As KMT maverick James Soong (
Reports of quick disciplinary action came a day after President Lee Teng-hui (
Chien Wei-chang (
Chien said he hopes to get the package ready for discussion at the next meeting of the party's central standing committee on Wednesday.
Soong is about to face the music for declaring his candidacy for president without permission from the party and for launching verbal attacks against the KMT's leadership.
Soong's party membership could either be suspended or revoked, Chien said.
The first wave of action will be targeted at Soong alone, while elected officials supporting Soong will be disciplined in subsequent waves, he said.
The evaluation and discipline committee has been collecting data and preparing for the action since Soong declared his intent to run, Chien said. "Now everything is ready and we are waiting for an order from Chang to hold a meeting of the committee," he said.
A lively debate is expected at the disciplinary committee's meeting, as Chien said "the matter may be put to a vote if necessary."
Soong was not rolling over yesterday, however, as he held a press conference to counter allegations that he had misspent the budget during his term as provincial governor.
The allegations surfaced earlier in the day, when Su Chih-chang (
"Nobody knows where this money went, or which project it was applied to, or through which channels it was distributed," Su said. "I think Soong should disclose the facts.''
Soong hit back later in the afternoon, with the aid of diagrams and charts showing exactly what had been done with the budget at his disposal.
"All tax revenues have to be allotted in accordance with each county's budgetary accounting items and they are supervised by the county councils, thus I was not even able to portion out the money to my campaign boosters,'' Soong said.
No sooner had Soong finished, though, than the KMT mainstream opened fire on him again.
"If Soong really didn't give out money to campaign boosters, how come Taichung County council speaker Yen Ching-piao (
"I am not questioning whether Soong had spent the money on public affairs, but rather how he spent it,'' Ting added.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
The Philippines yesterday criticized a “high-risk” maneuver by a Chinese vessel near the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in a rare incident involving warships from the two navies. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the contested South China Sea — has been a flash point between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Taiwan also claims the shoal. Monday’s encounter took place approximately 11.8 nautical miles (22km) southeast” of the Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine military said, during ongoing US-Philippine military exercises that Beijing has criticized as destabilizing. “The Chinese frigate BN 554 was
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
RSS