The DPP will hold a seminar Jan. 11 and Jan. 12 to discuss six major topics, including national security, economic development and administrative reform, senior party officials said yesterday.
"The two-day seminar is aimed at soliciting opinions of party members on the government's agenda and at forging intraparty consensus on major policy issues," DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said at a press conference.
The seminar will focus mainly on finance and economics, national security, political reform, social welfare and public health, and public construction, as well as educational, cultural and technological development, Chang said.
He added that President Chen Shui-bian (
The meeting will also be attended by heads and deputy heads of various ministries, as well as DPP legislators, city mayors and county magistrates, members of the DPP's Central Standing Committee and Central Executive Committee, and the chairmen of various DPP local chapters.
Chang said the seminar is expected to help consolidate the communication and coordination mechanism among the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the DPP's legislative caucus and party headquarters.
Saying that the public has high expectations for the DPP administration, Chang said the seminar will mark the beginning of the party's efforts to further refine its decision-making process and coordinate with the government.
"We hope the seminar can help DPP lawmakers better understand the Cabinet's major policy goals and support the Cabinet's programs to realize these goals," he said.
Asked whether the seminar is related to the party's campaign program for the 2004 presidential election, Chang did not make a direct reply, saying only that the DPP's priorities are reform and the economy at the moment, not the presidential election.
DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (
If the party and the administration do not improve the existing formula, in which the party chairman "decides everything," he said, a "collective crisis" might arise in the party.
Regarding the efforts to conduct reform and revitalize the economy, Lee said that the government should communicate with legislators of the ruling party so as to expedite the deliberation of related bills in the legislature.
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
EVA Airways on Saturday said that it had suspended a pilot and opened an investigation after he allegedly lost his temper and punched the first officer several times as their plane was taxiing before takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport. According to a report published on Thursday by The Reporter, the incident occurred after the flight’s Malaysian first officer tried to warn the Taiwanese pilot, surnamed Wen (文), that he was taxiing faster than the speed limit of 30 knots (55.6kph). After alerting the pilot several times without response, the first officer manually applied the brakes in accordance with standard operating
Japanese Councilor Hei Seki (石平) on Wednesday said that he plans to visit Taiwan, saying that would “prove that Taiwan is an independent country and does not belong to China.” Seki, a member of the Japan Innovation Party, was born in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province and became a naturalized Japanese in 2007. He was elected to the House of Concilors last year. His views on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — espoused in a series of books on politics and history — prompted Beijing to sanction him, including barring Seki from traveling to China. Seki wrote on X that he intends