The time is not yet right for the three pan-blue parties to merge, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Alex Tsai (
Tsai was responding to questions about whether the KMT and its splinter parties -- the New Party and the People First Party (PFP) -- will merge following KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) remarks during a rally on Saturday that the three parties will cooperate even more closely in the wake of the March 20 presidential election.
Tsai said that "there has been consistent speculation to that effect, but the timing is not yet ripe."
"The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] has pulled out all the stops to try to disintegrate pan-blue cooperation," Tsai said, adding that he wanted to advise the DPP to direct its efforts in the right places.
Meanwhile, an ally of the DPP urged Lien to concede defeat and step down as party chairman.
Taiwan Solidarity Union whip Cheng Chen-lung (
"Lien should pass the baton to others and let the grand old party become Taiwanized," Cheng said, adding that Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng (
Cheng said that the KMT should learn the will of the people to move toward the direction of Taiwanization, adding that if Wang serves as its chairman, the party can maintain its power to balance that of the ruling party.
He also said that PFP Chairman James Soong (
He said the KMT and the PFP will have to go their own ways in the year-end legislative elections.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
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IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
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