The New Party leadership decided yesterday that the party will continue to function and reform itself in preparation for a fresh start, despite the preference of some politicians to disband the party following its dismal performance in the Dec. 1 legislative election.
Levi Ying (營志宏) took over the post of convener of the party's decision-making national election and development committee yesterday, replacing Hsieh Chi-ta (謝啟大), who stepped down to take responsibility for the failure.
"The New Party will survive for good and will never be disbanded," Ying told a press conference after a provisional meeting of the committee.
"We will never be discouraged and will continue to work with our volunteers to have the party revitalized. The New Party will stand up again."
Ying said a committee will be established soon to push for reform programs within the troubled party.
The committee will consist not only of party members, but also other independent, well-respected people outside the party.
Ying said the party is well aware of the mistakes it made in the elections, and it has not given up on its efforts to strive for the people and "protect the ROC and keep the ROC flag flying."
The pro-unification New Party won only one legislative seat, in Kinmen, and won only 0.44 percent of the vote in the legislative elections. All seven sitting lawmakers from the party, including Hsieh and Ying, failed in their re-election bids.
According to election laws, only political parties garnering at least five percent of the vote are entitled to government funding and legislator-at-large seats.
Some members led by lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) and Taipei City Council deputies Lee Hsin (李新) and Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元), have proposed that the party be dismissed in light of its ever-diminishing support base.
Lai has announced that he will quit the party as soon as his term expires in January, but promised that he would not join another party.
A major part of the New Party's support base was taken over by James Soong (
A number of the party's politicians have defected to the People First Party since its establishment last year and most succeeded in their legislative bids under the PFP's banner.
Unwilling to see the demise of the New Party, scores of its supporters crowded the party's headquarters to monitor yesterday's meeting and press the party leaders to keep the party going.
Lee Ben-nan (李炳南), who stepped down from his position as the party's secretary-general said the New Party may conduct a reregistration drive for its members.
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
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS