With only one month left before the elections for county commissioners and city mayors, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials yesterday said the party is sanguine despite recent negative news surrounding the party, since high-level officials have apologized publicly for the incidents.
The DPP yesterday held its weekly central standing committee meeting in Lukang (
Election hopefuls present at the meeting yesterday included candidate for Nantou County commissioner Tsai Huang-liang (
DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said during the meeting that the electoral districts in central Taiwan are significant for the party and if they can win in these constituencies, it will help consolidate the party's power as a ruling party.
"The DPP's nominees are very good candidates with well-rounded experience and excellent abilities. Although currently we seem to suffer from low support, we are confident that we will surprise people in the end, just like the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox did in baseball," Su said.
The DPP had originally intended to pass a list of members for its new Commission Against Corruption during the meeting yesterday, but this was canceled in favor of election activities.
DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (
The party is still lagging slightly behind the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) candidates in Taipei County, Ilan County, Chiayi City and Penghu County, however, and must make an effort to catch up, he said.
"But one point we can be sure of is that the decline in support for us ceased after President Chen Shui-bian (
Meanwhile, during the meeting yesterday, Su and Lin accused Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (
Lin said that Hu included the years that he had studied at Oxford University -- from 1975 to 1985 -- in his governmental employee qualifications in order to receive more retirement benefits. It was serious misconduct that had been neglected by the public, Lin added.
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 US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative.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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
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
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition