The DPP's Hsinchu City chapter appealed to the party's headquarters yesterday to prevent Hsinchu Mayor Tsai Jen-chien (
"A verdict has not even been made by the court in Tsai's case. Besides, it is not within the local chapter's authority to get involved in the mayoral election," Hsu Yang-ming (許陽明), party deputy secretary-general, said at a press conference yesterday.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Hsu added that the party's Central Standing Committee would send a letter admonishing the Hsinchu chapter for stepping out of bounds.
Tsai was charged on Saturday for forcing United Microelectronics Corp (
Prosecutors are seeking a two-and-a-half year sentence for Tsai.
"The indictment against Tsai has damaged the party's reputation," argued Yang Lung-yuan (楊隆源), director of the DPP's Hsinchu chapter, who endorsed yesterday's appeal along with six other members.
"We urge the central party headquarters to review Tsai's qualifications for participating in the party's primary," said Yang.
But Yang added that it was up to the party's central review committee to decide whether Tsai should have his party membership suspended, be expelled or be given an oral warning.
Yang also said that the central headquarters had the option to sit back and do nothing until the outcome of Tsai's case was determined.
Tsai, in response to the appeal, expressed his regret over the matter but refused to comment further.
Hsinchu Deputy Mayor Lin Cheng-chieh (
Other DPP officials said the move was meant to "embarrass Tsai."
Meanwhile, the DPP's Justice Alliance faction (
Chen, accompanied by faction leaders Yu Cheng-hsien (
Yu and Kao believe that Chen's fame will help him win office and help the party win votes from Aboriginal groups.
"Even if Chen is called up to run as the party's candidate, it will still be a tough battle," Hsieh told Chen yesterday morning. The DPP has long had a low support rate among Aboriginal groups.
"I will do my best," Chen responded.
"Chen's nomination would become possible if no one is interested in registering [during the primary] since our party will have only one nominee," Liu I-te (劉一德) said. Liu added there was a great possibility that this would happen but it was still too early to tell.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
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