Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) presented his vision and resolutions for regaining power in 2008 yesterday, but a group of legislative aides urged him to act on his reform agenda by ousting Keelung's mayor first.
The "567 Alliance," a group of younger KMT members, showed up at the party's Central Standing Committee (CSC) to urge Ma to take a more positive stance about initiating a recall motion against Keelung Mayor Hsu Tsai-li (
The alliance, which met with violent opposition from members of the KMT's Keelung branch when they were collecting signatures for the recall motion last week, had planned to give Ma a train ticket to Keelung so he could show support for their drive by visiting the city. However, they decide not to confront Ma and sent the ticket to his office instead.
"People were busy with the meeting, and so we decided to send the ticket instead," alliance member Cheng Shi-yu (程詩郁) told the Taipei Times.
Hsu, who has been sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption, has refused to resign.
"Chairman Ma, reform is not an announcement in an air-conditioned room, and not some emotional talk about how angry you are," the alliance said in a written statement.
"The threshold for proposing the Keelung recall motion is signatures from 5,847 persons. How difficult could getting that number be?" the statement continued.
Ma did not make any comments on the alliance' s move, but told the CSC about his plans for party reform and visions for the future.
He pledged to resolve the party assets problem by next June and said the party would not operate any businesses once the asset problem was removed.
As the biggest opposition party, Ma said the KMT should seek to form "an alliance" with the People First Party as soon as possible.
To make the KMT a more efficient organization, Ma said there would be a personnel reshuffle and staff positions might be cut from 900 to 600.
Ma vowed to lead the party to regain power in 2008 and to work to improve economic ties with China.
KMT Legislator Lin Hung-chih (
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS