A group of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) young turks will propose a party reform plan this week, Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said after resigning as the party's deputy secretary-general yesterday.
Tuan said the group would review and reflect on three key issues: national identity, the party's core values and its nomination system.
DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) suffered a crushing defeat in the March 22 presidential election -- the latest in a string of electoral failures that included the Jan. 12 legislative election and the local government poll in December 2005.
The party's Central Executive Committee on Thursday established a task force composed of party members who had served as secretary-general of the 21-year-old party to review the party's policy.
Tuan said yesterday that pro-localization should not be the only distinction between the DPP and other parties and should not be used as a tool to attack fellow party members.
He said that the party should seek to regain the public's trust that it would put its core values into practice if it returns to power and would end abuses of the party's nomination system.
Joining Tuan were Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chi-mai (
At a separate setting yesterday, Hsieh dismissed a Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) report that said his decision to retract his resignation as party chairman had angered President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who wanted Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) to take over as acting chairman.
Hsieh on Friday withdrew his resignation, which he had tendered earlier last week following his election defeat. He agreed to stay until a new chairman is elected in May.
The paper quoted an anonymous source from the Presidential Office as saying that Hsieh initially agreed that Chang should take over as acting chairman.
"What newspapers said is not necessarily the truth," Hsieh said.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
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