In sharp contrast to Premier Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) less-than-friendly words for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday was upbeat about Ma's double act as chairman of the KMT and Taipei mayor, saying that Ma should be encouraged and that people should not try to find fault with him at this time.
Su made the remarks yesterday while accompanying Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉), the DPP's candidate for Taipei County commissioner, to two noted temples in Taipei County to worship.
Su served as Taipei County commissioner from 1997 until last year.
PHOTO: CHENG SHU-TING, TAIPEI TIMES
Although Ma is the likely opponent for a Su or Hsieh DPP ticket at the 2008 presidential election, Su embraced Ma's election triumph. Hsieh had said that Ma would struggle to deal with both party affairs and his municipal responsibilities.
Su said that it was good to see that the KMT was about to start a period of reform, and he expected that Ma would carry out his campaign promise of transforming the old KMT and eradicating its longstanding use of "black gold" politics.
"I think we should give Ma more encouragement and our best regards to him in his new post," Su said.
"Hopefully, Ma will improve the sour relations between the ruling and opposition parties, stop negative competition between them and bring an end to the opposition parties' meaningless boycott in the legislature," he said.
When asked about Hsieh's concerns over Ma's workload, Su said that there was no doubt that Ma would have much more work to do than before, but that there was "no need to find fault with Ma."
DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) appealed to Ma to quickly facilitate passage of the long-delayed arms-procurement package in light of the US Department of Defense's report released on Tuesday on China's accelerating military strength.
The report stated that China's military expansion is altering the cross-strait status quo.
"I urge Ma to walk out of the shadow of outgoing KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and support a provisional legislative session to allow the arms-procurement bill to be passed as soon as possible so that Taiwan's national security can be ensured," Lee said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
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Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard