Members of the Taiwan Solidarity Union handed in their application for party registration yesterday at the Ministry of the Interior, moving one step closer to officially becoming a party.
But no sooner had they done so than the DPP's chairman and the new party's spokesman began trading barbs.
The new party, established with the help of former president and KMT party chairman Lee Teng-hui (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Its entry into the year-end elections, however, has made all three of Taiwan's major parties, including the ruling DPP, extremely nervous.
When asked to comment on the party's formation yesterday, Frank Hsieh (
"They are nominated just because they want to run in the elections, but that doesn't mean they have a voter base. I hope that results of the election won't have any negative influence on Lee's prestige," Hsieh said.
In their defense, the new political group's official spokesman, Su Chin-chiang (蘇進強), said that the party's candidates did indeed have the public support needed to be elected.
"We've evaluated nominations for each candidate based on their personal image, capability, profession, background, and their voter bases. The other parties are nervous about facing us. If DPP candidates' are competitive enough, they shouldn't worry about us," Su said.
After handing in its application yesterday, the party still needs to host a political gathering to be officially registered, according to the Law for People's Groups. At least 30 individuals as well as civil affairs officials need to be in attendance at the gathering.
The party currently is expected to have a membership of up to 50 members, most of whom plan to run in the year-end elections.
Party regulations and names of individuals who are in charge of the party must also be submitted to the government before the party can be officially established and then able to nominate its own candidates for the elections.
The party will hold its debut conference on Aug. 12, and is planning to invite president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the DPP's Chairman Frank Hsieh, the KMT's Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and the PFP's Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).
Lee Teng-hui is also expected to attend the conference. The party will release a complete nomination list for the legislative elections during the conference.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS