The People First Party (PFP) charged yesterday that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is improperly using the political clout of major party-affiliated government officials to raise money for its candidates running in the year-end legislative elections.
Referring to recent media reports that the DPP has set fundraising guidelines for influential party members, PFP spokesman Liu Wen-hsiung (
He added that the guidelines, and the secrecy surrounding party donations, smacks of political extortion.
"We've already received complaints from several businesspeople that they've been under pressure from people in power to give money," Liu said yesterday.
In response, DPP Deputy Secretary-General Chung Chia-pin (
According to recent media reports, the DPP has set fundraising goals for most of its political heavyweights, in order to increase the party's campaign war chest for its year-end legislative candidates.
According to reports, the party has given Vice President Annette Lu (
Chung confirmed that those DPP fundraising targets are correct.
"The DPP should not allow any party members that are now government officials to endorse the campaigns of legislative candidates," Liu said. "After all, are there really any businesses that will refuse the request of a premier or a vice president for money? These businesses are donating money to buy `insurance' from the people with administrative power."
"`Green gold' is more terrible than black gold [corruptly-obtained money]," PFP legislator Pang Chien-kuo (
Liu and Pang made their comments during a press conference held yesterday.
Earlier, relevant government officials, such as Yu and Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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