Former Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) Chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) said yesterday that he will shortly call on the leadership of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP) to push for the signing of a pact to merge the two main opposition "pan-blue alliance" parties once and for all.
Hsu, who served as DPP chairman before the party came to power more than four years ago, said that all the "pan-blue alliance" groups, including the New Party, should merge to enable the opposition forces to secure a majority in the Legislative Yuan in the year-end legislative elections.
Hsu, a co-founder of the new political group, the Taiwan Democratic School, noted that only by calling all the "pan-blue" supporters back to vote in the Dec. 11 legislative elections can the opposition camp win a majority of seats in the Legislative Yuan to "rebuild a new center of power" for the country.
Hsu, who had a falling-out with the DPP after the party failed to nominate him to run in the 2000 presidential election, claimed in July of this year at the inaugural ceremony of the Taiwan Democratic School that the new group is aimed at "promoting a new democratic movement to sustain Taiwan's young democracy."
Claiming that the nation has been divided into "two countries and two peoples" since the bitterly fought March 20 presidential election, Hsu said the island now needs a new and powerful popular movement to address this crisis.
Hsu and three other Taiwan Democratic School members have registered to run in the Dec. 11 legislative elections as independents.
Hsu said that he will probably call on KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) prior to the elections to push for a "big consolidation" of the opposition forces and to make known the Taiwan Democratic School's determination to throw its support behind the "pan-blue alliance" as well.
Hsu and Taiwan Democratic School President Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) as well as Vice President Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) held a press conference yesterday to call for the Taiwan public, particularly TV talk show hosts, to refrain from using inflammatory rhetoric and abusing the term "love Taiwan" during the campaign season.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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