Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) has cleared out his office at party headquarters, in a sign that infighting may have escalated over the party’s nomination for the year-end Tainan County commissioner election.
Asked for comment, Chen Chi-mai said he was no longer the party’s deputy secretary-general.
DPP Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) yesterday confirmed that Chen had cleared out his office.
Chen had been exhausted and taken leave for health reasons over the past three or four weeks, Cheng said.
Asked whether Chen had turned in his resignation, Cheng said: “I would have to confirm with Chairperson Tsai [Ing-wen (蔡英文)] whether Chen’s resignation has been approved.”
Upon hearing the news, Huang Chin-lin (黃慶林), director of the DPP’s Taipei branch, said: “The party headquarters can just go ahead and fill up with New Tide faction [members] and everyone else can just leave.”
Chen Chi-mai is highly capable and it would be a shame to see him leave, Huang said.
“But he cannot bring his skills into full play because the chairperson doesn’t listen to him,” he said.
Huang said Chen Chi-mai had told him in a phone call last Wednesday that he felt powerless and would soon leave party headquarters.
DPP Legislator Kao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said yesterday that Chen Chi-mai had wanted to leave for a long time.
“It may be good for him to go ... It’s also a good thing to let the New Tide faction completely run the party and shoulder all the responsibility — just like the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT),” he said.
Factions have long played a role within the DPP, particularly in the distribution of party resources and positions, including the heads of party departments and membership in the Central Standing Committee and other bodies.
The New Tide faction was seen as the DPP’s most organized faction, but in July 2006 the party passed a resolution dissolving all factions as part of reform efforts.
Nevertheless, the previous factional affiliations of party members are thought to have a lingering role in the party’s internal politics.
The DPP last Wednesday chose DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) to run for Tainan County commissioner.
One of Lee’s rivals for the nomination, former Presidential Office secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山), said he had been left out because of party infighting. He announced he would run in the election in defiance of factional forces.
Some party members have speculated that Mark Chen’s bid for the nomination was blocked by former members of the New Tide faction in favor of Lee.
The DPP headquarters yesterday stood by its nomination of Lee. Lee may have a lower support rate than Mark Chen in some opinion polls, but the party only uses such polls as a reference, it said.
According to a poll conducted by the Chinese-language China Times, Lee and Mark Chen’s approval ratings are 15 percent and 25 percent respectively.
“From the past few elections we know that opinion polls can only be used as a reference. The results of the polls can differ among media with different political affiliations, so we do not view a single poll as the standard,” Cheng said yesterday.
Lee said yesterday he had visited Tsai to discuss the situation in Tainan.
“Tainan supporters respect the party’s [nomination], but some have worries about Mark Chen’s [decision to run],” Lee said.
Tsai was quoted by Lee as saying that she would shoulder the responsibility for any difficulties that arise over the nomination, but he added, "I don't know in what form."
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS