People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chou Hsi-wei (
While Chou said that he had received the blessing of the PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) prior to registering with the KMT, the PFP denied this and said Chou will be stripped of his membership.
Chou defended his decision at press conference yesterday.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"Only if the pan-blue camp unites to support a group of candidates can we win the year-end [mayoral and country commissioner] races. If the pan-blue camp disintegrates, and the KMT and the PFP each nominates their own candidates, then the result will be a definite loss for the pan-blue camp," Chou said.
"I am willing to enter the KMT's intra-party preliminaries, by re-registering as a KMT member, to act as the first stone or first grain of sand in paving the road of future cooperation between the KMT and the PFP," he said .
Chou's move came as a surprise to most of the pan-blue camp yesterday, despite longstanding rumors that he had been talking to the KMT about entering its party preliminaries for the commissioner post.
When Chou first announced his interest in the Taipei County commissioner seat early last month, he called for the establishment of an inter-party nomination procedure for the hotly-contested seat.
In addition to Chou, KMT Legislator Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) and former Council for Hakka Affairs Chairman Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) have publicly announced their intentions to run for the seat.
At KMT headquarters yesterday, Liao Feng-te (廖風德), director of the party's Organization and Development Committee, confirmed that Chou had registered at the party's Huang Fu-hsing (黃復興) headquarters in Taipei County on Tuesday.
"The KMT's door is always open; we welcome Chou to enter the party's preliminaries," Liao said.
His words of welcome were echoed by KMT Secretary-General Lin Feng-cheng (
While the KMT seemed pleased with Chou's return, the PFP's reaction was less clear.
While the PFP's legislative caucus and central party organization said they had not been told of Chou's decision prior to his announcement, the head of the PFP's policy research department, Chang Hsien-yao (
Speaking at the legislature yesterday, Chang said that Chou told the PFP of his decision on Tuesday.
The KMT had promised Chou that he could run under dual-party membership in the manner of New Party members who ran as KMT members in last December's legislative election, Chang said.
Once Chou wins the election, Chang said, he will return to the PFP.
The PFP, however, yesterday denied Chang's comments and said Chou has been stripped of party privileges and duties.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS