Politicians with close ties to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) announced yesterday the formation of a new political party that hopes to win as many as 40 seats in the year-end legislative elections.
Former interior minister Huang Chu-wen (黃主文) unveiled the party's name, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (台灣團結聯盟), and the party's logo yesterday.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
"We've adopted the word solidarity because we believe that it is the most important thing that all Taiwanese currently expect," Huang said during yesterday's press conference.
Huang said the party would attempt to help the DPP bring stability to the legislature and put an end to the struggle between the opposition alliance and the government.
Accompanied by roughly 20 members who will represent the party in the legislative elections, Huang also unveiled the party's logo.
The emblem contains a brown-colored silhouette of Taiwan, symbolizing an earthy native focus. It is enclosed in a circle with a background of different shades of blue, which symbolizes the ocean.
"The logo means that Taiwan is just like the sun rising over the ocean," Huang said.
Lee, the former KMT chairman, has repeatedly criticized his party with being a sore loser after last year's presidential elections, saying the party should not purposely block President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) policies in the legislature.
According to Huang, Lee authorized him to form a new party to contest the year-end election and cooperate with the DPP after the election.
The party will hold a founding ceremony on Aug. 12 and announce a slate of legislative candidates later that day.
Lo Chih-ming (
Former KMT National Assembly delegate Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘), who will also represent the party in the elections, said that they will invite Lee and President Chen to jointly attend the Aug. 12 founding ceremony.
"The Taiwan Solidarity Union will loyally advocate former president Lee's ideals and continue to implement his guidelines, like continuing to maintain the former KMT administration's `no haste, be patient' policy in handling cross-strait investment," Chen said.
The idea that relations between Taiwan and China are "special state-to-state" in nature will also be a part of the party's platform.
While there have been recent threats to have Lee removed from the KMT for his support of the newly formed party, the KMT has thus far hesitated in confronting its former chairman.
Last month, old guard party member Liang Su-yung (
Chen Kang-ching (陳庚金), chief of the KMT disciplinary division, recently said "the department will approach the matter according to due process," implying it would not take action. He noted that it was for the party's administrative and management committee to decide whether Lee had indeed misused KMT funds, and for the organization section to determine whether Lee had in any way double-crossed the party.
In several recent interviews, Lee has blamed the 107-year-old party for its increasing drift toward China.
"No rules bar members from criticizing the party," said the KMT official, noting that the practice is rather common even among KMT stalwarts.
Still, the party is set to punish members who seriously harm the party's reputation and who endanger the party's existence. By that standard, those who join the Taiwan Solidarity Union will be deprived of their membership once the new political party formally registers with the Ministry of the Interior.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS