New Party leaders yesterday continued to lash out at the People First Party (PFP), accusing the party of being two-faced (
The New Party has accused the PFP of poaching its members since the announcement on Thursday that New Party Taichung County legislator Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) would join the PFP.
New Party legislator and spokesperson Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) yesterday said, "The PFP and the New Party are just like the two characters from the cartoon Tom and Jerry. While the two might appear to be pals, the cat, Tom, actually wants to swallow the mouse, Jerry."
After Lai's meeting with New Party Convener Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大) on Friday night, the two decided to continue to voice their anger with the PFP in order to reduce any negative impact Feng's defection might have on the party.
According to Lai, if PFP Chairman James Soong (
Lai also accused the PFP of being two-faced. Lai said that the PFP initially strongly supported New Party calls to suspend independent legislator Lo Fu chu (羅福助) for assaulting PFP legislator Diane Lee (李慶安), but that few PFP heavyweights actually showed up to vote on Lo's case.
Lai said the incident was an example of how the PFP only supports the opposition in public but then behind the scenes acts according to its best interests.
Rumor has it that Soong had suggested inviting New Party heavyweights -- such as the party's former convener Wang Chien-shien (王建火宣), former legislator Chou Yang-shang (周陽山) and senior member Kao Shin-wu (高新武) -- to represent the PFP in the legislative election. Lai, however, stressed yesterday that the three would never join the PFP.
Wang, who returned from a visit to China last night, held a press conference about the rumors upon his return. He told reporters he considers Soong's invitation an insult and that he would not stray from his party.
"I want to be the New Party's loyal dog," he said.
Wang earlier reportedly wrote a private letter to Feng which said that "Feng's behavior was worse than that of a dog."
In response to the criticism, a PFP spokesperson, Hsieh Kung-ping (
Meanwhile, New Party heavyweight Hsu Li-nung (許歷農) yesterday suggested that both his party and the PFP should work together closely in order to win mutual interests.
Hsu said he believes that the PFP would not try to poach the New Party's elite into its ranks intentionally.
He said he also has confidence that his party would not become a bubble (泡沫) party.
In August 1993, a group of young elite KMT members broke away from the party and established the New Party.
With only nine seats in the legislature, however, the party now faces the prospect of a PFP merger or takeover.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Taiwan must invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to keep abreast of the next technological leap toward automation, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said at the luanch ceremony of Taiwan AI and Robots Alliance yesterday. The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution centered on AI and robotics, which would likely lead to a thorough transformation of human society, she told an event marking the establishment of a national AI and robotics alliance in Taipei. The arrival of the next industrial revolution could be a matter of years, she said. The pace of automation in the global economy can
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS