The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday it would develop closer ties with grassroots and civic movements in an attempt to reform the party and get closer to mainstream public opinion.
Speaking after a meeting of the DPP’s Central Standing Committee held to discuss the party’s direction over the next year, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) called this year the party’s “social movement year,” saying that only by bringing in more “social power” could the party revive itself and perform well in the city mayor and county commissioner elections scheduled for the end of this year.
Citing media reports interpreting the party’s emphasis on social movements as a return to the party of “street protests,” Tsai said such views were narrow and misleading.
“A social movement is not a street movement,” she said.
Tsai said the party wanted to be a strong opposition to monitor the government’s performance and better connect with grassroots and civic organizations.
The party should forge links with civic groups to strengthen its ideals and social responsibility, consult academics to strengthen its analysis capabilities and listen to the public so it could better represent mainstream opinion, she said.
The meeting concluded that the party would have three priorities this year: linking with civic movements, helping people deal with the economic downturn and rising unemployment, and winning the mayoral and county commissioner elections, Tsai said.
Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦), a party spokesman, said the party would form several consultation committees to integrate opinions on different matters, including a first-tier election policy committee, a social development committee, a policy-making committee, a foreign affairs committee, a second-tier women’s committee, youth, Aborigine and Hakka committees, as well as a China policy committee.
To counter the government’s China-leaning polices, Tsai said the committee would form an “all citizens safeguard Taiwan movement,” which would not only protect Taiwan’s sovereignty, but also its culture, industry and products.
Tsai renewed her invitation to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to attend the national civic affairs conference the party will hold later this month, saying the party hoped Ma could attend and listen to the real voices of the public, which would be helpful for him in ruling the country — especially when delegates discuss economic issues.
Also See: Analysis: DPP faces most testing period in its history
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS