Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secretary-general Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) yesterday said that he would quit the party — as well as a clique of former New Tide faction members, of which he is an influential member — to protest the nomination of Executive Yuan Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) for party chairperson.
Wu made the remarks in an instant messaging group used by the clique.
He singled out Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), a member of the group, as the source of his frustration, saying that Cheng’s endorsement of Cho after Cho last month lashed out at DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), another member of the clique, showed that Cheng did not value his 30 years of friendship with Tuan.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The move would negatively affect Tuan’s role as one of the group’s leading figures, Wu added.
Tuan last month sparked a dispute with Cho after he slammed his palm on the podium during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan when grilling Premier William Lai (賴清德) over DPP policies that had drawn public criticism, which he said led to the party’s losses in the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections.
Cho called Tuan’s harsh criticism of the party “completely unacceptable” and asked whether the DPP had been wrong to push pension reforms for retired civil servants, military personnel and public-school teachers.
Legislation to eliminate a much-criticized 18 percent preferential interest rate for the retirees in six years was led by Tuan, Cho said.
The party “took a wrong step” while reflecting after its election losses, as did President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) when she met with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Thursday, Wu said.
He added that while those errors cause him pain, his endorsement of Cho was the last straw.
“The New Tide faction is a failed project. It cannot speak its mind, even when the party is going through a crisis, which proves that it no longer has a reason to exist,” Wu said.
The DPP in 2006 dissolved its factions, but many continue to exist unofficially.
Asked for comment while accompanying Cho to register for the DPP chairperson election, Cheng said: “I have not learned of that situation.”
Cho said that Wu is an “amiable and experienced” DPP member who he hopes would remain in the party.
Additional reporting by Sean Lin and CNA
‘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