Two senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members will lose membership privileges for three years because they attended a cross-strait forum in China organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the DPP said yesterday.
DPP Central Disciplinary Committee chairman Derek Chen (陳金德) said former DPP legislator Hsu Jung-shu (?Q) and former Council of Agriculture minister Fan Chen-tsung (范振宗) were warned of the consequences if they chose to attend last month’s forum but still chose to go.
“However, considering the immensity of their past contributions to the party and their contrite attitude, we have decided not to strip them of their membership, but rather suspend their membership privileges for three years, which is the maximum period of suspension,” Chen told a press conference.
The penalty is harsh but fair, Chen said.
Fan and Hsu were being punished for breaking party rules, not for holding ideals that are different from the party’s, Chen said.
In making their case to the committee, Fan and Hsu apologized for any trouble they had caused and said they wanted to stay in the party, Chen said.
A few committee members wanted the pair to apologize to the public, but Chen said it was up to Hsu and Fan to decide.
The party should formulate a clear and uniform policy on its officials visiting China, Chen said.
Hsu said she would take the committee’s decision to arbitration and that she had nothing to apologize for because her actions were motivated by her love for Taiwan.
Prior to going into the meeting, Hsu and Fan told reporters they were confident they wouldn’t lose their party membership because “these are old friends.”
The forum they attended was not the KMT-CCP forum that the party had prohibited its members from attending, but rather a “Cross-Strait Trade and Cultural Forum.”
The name of the forum was changed after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) suggested earlier this month that it be called “cross-strait” to encourage the participation of non-KMT members.
In a joint statement, Hsu and Fan said Taiwan needed to face the fact China was an emerging economic powerhouse and that both sides of the Taiwan Strait should establish positive interactions to co-exist peacefully.
“The final words we have for the party is that the Taiwanese remain the core of Taiwan’s political power and the Taiwanese will be the victims of erroneous policies,” they said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS