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.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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