Although the People First Party (PFP) has for the past week vehemently denied that its Chairman James Soong (
The DPP-PFP romance became even more serious as it was revealed last week that the DPP has tried to get in touch with Soong about cooperation.
A PFP lawmaker tried to set up a meeting between Soong and the DPP's caucus whip and acting chairman, Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), in the US last week, although the meeting eventually did not take place because Soong feared that Ker could not represent President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) well enough.
It is also understood that, although the president is willing to discuss any possibility or any government position with Soong, Soong is still thinking hard about his next move.
While the DPP-PFP coalition seems to be taking shape, the PFP is still denying any claims of a possible coalition.
"It is impossible for the two parties to form a coalition, because there are irreconcilable differences between the DPP's and our identification with the country," PFP caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (
"Plus it is the KMT who have demanded a coalition Cabinet with the DPP, and why isn't anyone questioning whether the KMT is shifting from its original stand?" Liu asked.
KMT Legislator Hsu Chong-hsiung (
"But the greatest problem for the DPP right now is how to rationalize its move toward a coalition with the PFP, since it would be a major change that might be questioned by the party's supporters," Hsu said.
"While A-bian has adjusted his attitude to promoting reconciliation because he is already in his second term and no longer has to completely equate himself with the DPP, the PFP is still thirsting for power," Hsu said.
Hsu said that whether the coalition could go ahead also depends on the TSU's attitude, but "even former president Lee Teng-hui (
Hsu might be only too correct about the dilemma the PFP would face if Soong finally decides to cooperate with the DPP.
When asked by the Taipei Times yesterday if she supported a DPP-PFP coalition, PFP Legislator Li Yong-ping (
Echoing recent statements by the PFP's central committee, Li said that while the PFP affiliates itself with the KMT in terms of ideology on issues related to the nation's status and title, it is open to cooperation with any party on public issues.
Furthermore, the PFP has always been open to collaboration with rival parties on public issues, "or how else would anything at all have been accomplished in the past four years?" Li said.
Soong's statement that the PFP was open to cooperating with other parties was just "political talk" and "empty words," Li said, adding that all the rumors of cooperation were being released by the DPP in its own self-interest.
"The DPP is doing this to `save' Chen Shui-bian. Chen is the reason why the pan-greens were unable to win a majority of seats in the legislative elections. As a result, the only hope the pan-greens have is to make it seem like the pan-blue camp is not united," Li said.
Li implied that the door to cooperation would be open if the DPP were to give up its Taiwan-independence tenet, something that Liu has previously mentioned.
"If the DPP gives up supporting Taiwan independence, then we can cooperate, because there will be no ideological differences. If it does not, however, then how can the PFP work with the DPP? If that happens, then we would just be selling out for government positions," Li said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching