The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will discuss whether to reshuffle its leading personnel at the weekly meeting of its Central Standing Committee next week, a senior party official said Saturday.
DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and his two deputies, Lee Ying-yuan (
Lee Ying-yuan said President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who doubles as DPP chairman, has not immediately accepted their resignations.
"The issue will be addressed at the DPP's weekly meeting [tomorrow]," Lee said.
The DPP garnered 89 of the 225 legislative seats up for grabs, a rise of two seats from the previous level, while its vote ratio also edged up 2.34 percent. Nevertheless, it fell far short of the DPP's target of winning 96 to 101 seats, and the pan-green camp failed to win a majority in the legislature -- a necessity if the Chen administration was to follow through with its reform agenda.
Asked whether Premier Yu Shyi-kun will step down and whether the Cabinet should be reshuffled, Lee said the issue has not been discussed.
"The competition [in the election] was very fierce. The fact that we managed to gain more seats and more votes indicated that our reform agenda has received popular support," Lee said.
As 14 of the party's incumbent lawmakers failed to win re-election, Lee said the DPP headquarters, and himself in particular, will assume full responsibility for the failure of the party's "vote-allocation" campaign strategy.
Meanwhile, DPP legislative whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said the DPP should take the initiative to push for reconciliation and cooperation with the opposition pan-blue camp of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party.
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
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