Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chapters in several cities and counties have launched a petition to ask Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to stay on as the party’s head after she announced her resignation from the position on Saturday to take responsibility for losing in the presidential election.
She was defeated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) by 797,561 votes.
DPP spokesperson Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄), who is also the head of the party’s Taipei branch, yesterday said that since Tsai assumed the post of party chairperson in 2008, she has helped it rebuild its confidence and refocus its direction.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The DPP has seen its number of legislative seats rise from 32 to 40 and “we should not let Tsai take sole responsibility for losing the presidential election,” Chuang said.
Since Saturday evening, more than 200,000 netizens have posted messages on Tsai’s Facebook page, asking her not to step down.
Many left messages saying that they felt that Tsai had been wronged.
One person wrote: “It’s the DPP who owes you, not the other way around.”
“For the past four years, it was you who pulled the DPP from the abyss and re-ignited our faith in the party. Please stay,” another netizen wrote.
Other Tsai supporters said that they had decided to formally join the DPP to provide her with further backing.
The 55-year-old Tsai was elected as the first female leader of the DPP in May 2008.
She was re-elected in 2010. Tsai’s term will expire on May 20 this year.
According to the party schedule, the re-election process should begin in March.
However, because of the election defeat, the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting that was originally scheduled for Wednesday was brought forward to today to discuss Tsai’s resignation and to review the reasons for the party’s loss.
Committee member Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said she believed most of the committee members would try to persuade Tsai to stay on as DPP leader until the chairmanship election in May.
Despite the defeat, Hsu said the party saw a rise in the number of votes it received when compared with the 2008 presidential election.
In this year’s combined elections, the party also managed to increase its number of seats in the legislature, she added.
Meanwhile, DPP sources yesterday said that the question of who would take the party helm given Tsai’s resignation was already the center of debate.
The party’s heavyweights include former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), former premiers Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃), Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), as well as Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德), and all are credible candidates, the sources said.
Chen and Lai are considered by the DPP to have the standing and strength to head the party, given that they have solid support at the grassroots level and the support of their municipalities, sources said.
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2
PLAN: Nations would receive US$5m a year if they could advance Taiwan’s international participation, diversify supply chains away from China or counter Beijing’s influence The US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday introduced a bill that would approve US$120 million to be spent on supporting Taiwan’s international space and tackling coercion by China. The bipartisan legislation — the Taiwan Allies Fund Act — was proposed ahead of the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on May 20. The committee said in a statement that the bill “strengthens Taiwan’s global network of friends by authorizing [US]$120 million over three years for the State Department and USAID [US Agency
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has
‘DIGITAL SOLIDARITY’: Taiwan, the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are to install and operate a cable that would connect up to 100,000 people in the Pacific Islands Taiwan, the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are working together to install undersea cables as a demonstration of digital solidarity, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday. Blinken talked about the cooperation in a speech he delivered at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. He said that the US International Cyberspace and Digital Strategy launched by the US Department of State “treats digital solidarity as our North Star.” “Solidarity informs our approach not only to digital technologies, but to all key foundational technologies,” Blinken said. Under the strategy, the US is to work with international partners “to shape the design, development,