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Hsieh talks of the rise of a new party in Harvard speech

If Taiwan's political parties and politicians fail to look at themselves and adjust in response to the expectations of the Taiwanese people, perhaps a new political party should be created to supersede the current ones, former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said in the US on Wednesday.

Hsieh, who stepped down from the premiership in January and has been studying at Harvard University for the last two months, made the remarks while giving a speech at Harvard as part of his final presentation for his course.

A number of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators who are considered close to Hsieh had flown to Harvard to listen to the speech.

Hsieh plans to return home at the end of this month.

Commenting on speculation that Hsieh's speech meant that he may be mulling forming a new party, Hsieh's personal assistant Albert Lin (林耀文) explained that the former premier does not want to organize a party, but was merely urging Taiwan's political leaders to pay attention to the voices of neutral voters.

"Hsieh thinks that if the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] do not reduce the gap between themselves and the people of Taiwan and continue to go their own ways, someone or group will appear to take their place and come up with a new political line that meets the needs of neutral voters," Lin said.

Given that Hsieh served as premier for just short of one year, many of his supporters feel sorry for him and some have even encouraged Hsieh to leave the DPP and form a new party for a run in the 2008 presidential election.

In his speech, Hsieh also focused on promoting his idea of "reconciliation and coexistence," saying the notion is the only solution to the political disorder that has pestered Taiwan and relations between Taiwan and China.

Hsieh stressed the importance of reaching a "consensus," saying that the DPP government and Chinese government should try to find common ground.
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