Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) challenged Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) right after he took over the party leadership yesterday to mean business in his pledge to reform the party, particularly on the issues of "black gold" and vote-buying.
Su also challenged Ma to lead the KMT into what he described as "benevolent competition" with the DPP during the year-end elections of county magistrates and mayors.
During a stumping tour of Taoyuan in northern Taiwan, Su advised Ma to shed his "teflon" image if he wants to wean his party off the so-called "black gold" or money politics and vote-buying.
Su said he understands Ma's ambition to lead the KMT to win back power in the 2008 presidential election, but the DPP will do its utmost to get good grades on President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) administration, an achievement that he claimed will ensure the DPP continues as the ruling party.
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According to Lai, Ma spent much of his speech attacking the president and his administrative record as if he was delivering a campaign speech in 2008.
"Loud criticism of the DPP does not mean the KMT will improve, as that requires concrete strategies," Lai said.
He also ridiculed Ma for "copying what Lien Chan (
Cheng Chen-lung (程振隆), secretary-general of the pro-independence opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), said that if Ma wants the "pan-blue alliance" to take power in 2008, he must deal with the baggage of the party's ill-gotten assets, return the party to the middle ground and respect the people's right to choose between unification and independence.
Ma's anti-Taiwan independence remarks show that he does not respect the people, he claimed, adding that Ma should agree to allow the people a free choice between unification with China and Taiwan independence.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a