The acting chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that inter-party talks will soon begin with its ally the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), as a precursor to expanded discussions with other parties.
Ker Chien-ming (
Ker said the basic view was that there must be an end to the bickering between the ruling and opposition parties through some form of reconciliation, and pointed to Chen's new year's address to the nation, where he entreated all political parties to come together for the benefit of Taiwan.
In the speech, the president said that if something benefits the stability of domestic politics, the welfare of the people, harmony among ethnic groups and cross-strait peace, then it can be discussed between political parties for further cooperation to achieve positive results.
Ker said the DPP will maintain a "parallel and equidistant" relationship with the TSU, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party (PFP), and will begin to communicate with them as soon as possible.
Since the DPP has cooperated more regularly with the TSU in the past, it will consult with it first, Ker said, adding he will contact TSU acting-chairman Huang Tzung-yuan (
Huang replied he was happy to begin discussions about cooperation and added that the KMT and the PFP also need to come to the table for the sake of political stability.
Meanwhile, Huang Teh-fu (黃德福), a KMT caucus whip in the legislature, said yesterday that political parties can talk among themselves and the president only needs to step in if there is a bottleneck in communications.
Huang Teh-fu said that as president of all the people, Chen should not interfere with DPP party affairs.
He also said he hoped that the offer to communicate better was not being used as a facade to hide the real goal of the DPP -- to drive a wedge between the opposition pan-blue alliance of the KMT and the PFP. Reports have said recently that the DPP will allow the PFP to place some of its officials in the new Cabinet.
Last night, the Executive Yuan decided that it would resign en masse on Jan. 24.
Speculation over the last couple of weeks has centered on the possibility of Chen naming a new premier and forming a coalition Cabinet with opposition parties.
Senior government officials, including Yu himself, have been tightlipped about the imminent Cabinet reshuffle.
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
Labor rights groups yesterday called on the Ministry of Labor to protect migrant workers in Taiwan’s fishing industry, days after CNN reported alleged far-ranging abuses in the sector, including deaths and forced work. The ministry must enforce domestic labor protection laws on Taiwan-owned deep-sea fishing vessels, the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers told a news conference outside the ministry in Taipei after presenting a petition to officials. CNN on Sunday reported that Taiwanese seafood giant FCF Co, the owners of the US-based Bumble Bee Foods, committed human rights abuses against migrant fishers, citing Indonesian migrant fishers. The alleged abuses included denying