President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen's announcement came amid speculation that DPP Secretary General Chang Chun-hsiung (
Addressing the party meeting in Taipei, Chen said "the Control Yuan is an important mirror and the a needed `antiseptic' for the government."
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"In order to provide the Control Yuan with the ability to provide impartial and effective monitoring for the government, I declare that I'll nominate a non-DPP candidate for the next Control Yuan president," he said.
High-ranking party sources said yesterday that Chen wants Chang seek the job as Legislative Yuan speaker if the pan-green camp achieves a legislative majority after the year-end elections.
One of Chen's aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the president wants Chang to continue leading the DPP in the campaign for the December polls and assist him in implementing reforms for the legislature, in cross-strait relations and in taxation policies.
"President Chen is actually trying to give Chang a far more important task -- to head the legislature. Chang will be nominated as a legislator-at-large would then rejoin the legislature to help Chen push through major constitutional reform policies," the source said.
Chang served six terms as a legislator.
He said yesterday that he would respect Chen's decision to list him at the top of the party's legislator-at-large list and ask him to to vie for the speaker position.
In other developments at the congress meeting yesterday was the election of 30 members to the party's highest administrative body -- the Central Executive Committee (CEC) -- whose members then chose from among themselves the 10 members of the Central Standing Committee.
The two committees work together to implement decisions of the National Congress.
The was fierce competition among factions for committee posts. The three most popular figures -- all seen as possible successors to Chen -- Premier Yu Shyi-kun, Secretary General to the Presidential Office Su Tseng-chang (
Although Yu has been designated by President Chen as a CSC member, he assigned Vice Premier Yeh Chu-lan (
Su also did participate in the CSC election in order to meet Chen's request that government officials be neutral to party affairs. Su, however, appointed former director of DPP's Taipei County chapter Tsai Hsien-hao (
Both Yeh and Tsai were elected.
Factional representation in the CSC remained firm. Hsieh, head of Welfare State Alliance, received the highest votes to become the No. 1 member on the committee. The Alliance also became the largest faction, taking four seats.
The New Tide Faction ended up with just two seats, while the Justice Alliance, of which Chen is the former leader, ended up with just one seat. The Green Friendship Alliance, comprised of those who were involved in the democratic Formosa Incident movement, took two seats.
Congress delegates also passed a revision to the party's disciplinary regulations barring any DPP member who holds a position in the central government from taking up posts in factional organizations or participating in any factional activities. Violators face punishments of expulsion or having their party membership suspended for at least one year.
The congress also served as a change for the party's 90 legislative candidates to campaign. The candidates vowed to secure a majority in the legislature along the party's ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union.
Chen said the greens would seek a majority in order to promote good governance and alleviate the deadlock between the ruling and opposition parties.
He also said a pan-green majority was needed so that several major bills now stalled in the legislature could be passed, including one on an investigation into the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) illegally acquired party assets.
Also see story:
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
African swine fever was confirmed at a pig farm in Taichung, the Ministry of Agriculture said today, prompting a five-day nationwide ban on transporting and slaughtering pigs, and marking the loss of Taiwan’s status as the only Asian nation free of all three major swine diseases. The ministry held a news conference today confirming that the virus was detected at a farm in Wuci District (梧棲) yesterday evening. Authorities preemptively culled 195 pigs at the farm at about 3am and disinfected the entire site to prevent the disease from spreading, the ministry said. Authorities also set up a 3km-radius control zone
RSS