As the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gears up in its effort to cooperate with the People First Party (PFP), Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (
"As both the ruling and opposition alliances have agreed to reconcile and cooperate after the legislative elections, there're many things that political parties can do to stabilize the political climate," he said.
In addition to signing a party-to-party agreement or memorandum, the parties could consider jointly making a declaration, pledging to cooperate in the legislature to help push the passage of significant bills concerning people's livelihood and public interest.
But a senior PFP legislator yesterday denied a report claiming that the DPP is close to finalizing a deal to cooperate with the PFP.
Dismissing the report as a mere rumor, PFP legislative caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (
A local daily ran a story yesterday saying that a cooperation deal between the DPP and PFP is nearly complete and that Soong is likely to meet with President Chen Shui-bian (
The report said that the two parties are inclined to cooperate in the race for Legislative Yuan speaker and vice speaker, and that some PFP politicians may also enter the Cabinet.
Liu said the PFP's fundamental policies of "defending the Republic of China and opposing Taiwan's independence" remain unchanged, saying that the party will never trade its party stance for power or positions in the government.
Liu said a lot of political rumors are being circulated by different people with different motives.
While some stories say acting DPP chairman Ker Chien-ming (
Huang Teh-fu (黃德福), head of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus, accused the DPP of using the media to spread rumors to try to divide the alliance between the KMT and PFP.
Ker admitted that it is premature to jump to the conclusion that a DPP-PFP cooperation deal is near before Chen and Soong meet.
Ker said he hopes Soong will hold talks with Chen on issues concerning Taiwan's political stability, economic development and cross-strait peace after he returns from the US.
Ker said there is a need for the DPP to sit down for talks with opposition leaders to seek reconciliation and that the talks are not exclusively for the PFP but also include the KMT.
Also yesterday, a group of protesters drove 10 campaign trucks around the Legislative Yuan in opposition to the PFP's alleged plan to cooperate with the DPP.
The protesters urged people to participate in a demonstration set for Saturday at PFP headquarters to "rescue the PFP from turning green," the color of the DPP.
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