The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday withdrew its support for the pan-blue camp's plan to propose a third recall motion against President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
TSU caucus whip Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙) told a press conference that the caucus would respect the president's promise that he would step down if first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) were found guilty.
Liao said the TSU would only support the new recall motion on the condition that "concrete evidence concerning corruption is presented," but he did not say if Taipei District Prosecutor Eric Chen's (陳瑞仁) indictment would be considered "concrete evidence."
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
He said the caucus would suggest that TSU headquarters "wait, listen and see" what the public response was before deciding the caucus' stance on the recall motion.
The decision was agreed upon unanimously after yesterday morning's caucus meeting, Liao said, but TSU Legislator Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) left the meeting before it ended.
She did not talk to reporters after leaving the meeting.
TSU Chairman Shu Chin-chiang (
However, yesterday afternoon TSU Taipei mayoral candidate Clara Chou (周玉蔻) held a joint press conference with Lai and voiced support for the recall motion.
Chou said that judging from Lee's recent remarks that "justice, morality, conscience and the concept of right or wrong were the best remedies for the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] and were the hope for Taiwan's society," the former president is actually in favor of the recall motion.
Chou urged DPP legislators to vote for the recall motion in the legislature and let the people decide whether Chen should resign. She announced that one of her campaign themes would be that she is "pro-recall motion."
Chou said TSU legislators Huang Chung-yung (黃宗源), David Huang (黃適卓) and Liao were the only three TSU caucus members who were "pro-Chen" instead of being "pro-Lee."
In response to Chou's comments, Shu said: "She is not a legislator or a member of the TSU's Central Executive Committee. Although she has her own campaign strategy, she cannot stand for the TSU's headquarters or Lee."
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS