Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator-elect Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) is likely to become the nation’s first non-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative speaker on Monday, as the DPP caucus yesterday nominated him for the post.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) and Su had all been interested in running for the speakership, and a vote within the caucus was planned to select a candidate during yesterday morning’s meeting.
However, before the meeting was to begin at 9am, Ker appeared outside the meeting room, along with Chen and Su, all three smiling.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“I think it is easiest [to solve the issue] if we three talk among ourselves,” Ker said. “We have reached a simple conclusion: to support Su as the party’s candidate for legislative speaker.”
Ker said he is confident that when Su is elected speaker, he will be able to keep the legislature running smoothly, leaving president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) worry-free.
When asked about rumors that he had said he would rather die than withdraw from the speaker election, Ker denied ever making such a remark.
Ker declined to discuss whether he would continue to serve as caucus whip.
The caucus unanimously passed nomination of Su as the DPP’s speaker candidate and the nomination of DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) as deputy speaker candidate.
With an absolute majority of 68 seats, accounting for 60.1 percent of the legislature, the DPP’s candidates are almost certain to win the speakership and deputy speakership.
Ker said he had a sleepless night as negotiations between himself, Su and Chen Ming-wen hosted by Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) at DPP headquarters in Taipei on Thursday failed to generate any concrete results.
“So I called Chen and Su at 7am and asked them to come to my office to discuss the issue,” Ker said.
“We started our meeting at 8am and, after some discussion, we felt we should try to maintain harmony within the party, and should not disappoint the people, nor force the party’s central leadership to intervene in the speaker election, and reached our decision,” Ker added.
On a trip to thank her supporters in Yunlin and Chiayi counties, Tsai Ing-wen welcomed the decision, while denying she had talked Ker out of the race.
“I am happy our caucus members were able to negotiate among themselves to smoothly work out candidates for legislative speaker and deputy speaker,” she said.
“I hope that in the future, we can integrate different opinions within the party on important issues to start the reform agenda as soon as possible, based on the values of solidarity and reform,” she added.
Tsai Ing-wen denied that she had overridden the will of the caucus, as there had been speculation that she preferred Su to serve as speaker.
She said she had merely “reminded” the caucus about the public’s expectations.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
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
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS