Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday played down criticism from his long-time political rival and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) upon his return to Taipei after a six-day visit to Europe, stressing party consolidation in an election year.
Su dodged media inquiries about Hsieh’s criticism against his leadership and intention to run both in the chairman election in May and the presidential election in 2016, saying that the most important task for the party is “consolidation and answering the public’s concerns.”
“The most important task for the DPP is consolidation and winning the seven-in-one local election [in November],” Su told reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Hsieh was quoted by former DPP lawmaker Julian Kuo (郭正亮) as saying in a recent private conversation that he would make Su “miserable to the very end” if the “incompetent” chairman dared to declare a bid on the party’s presidential nomination as a re-elected chairman.
As Kuo’s article was published after Su’s departure and several lawmakers who are close to Hsieh began advocating the idea that the party chairman should not be a presidential candidate around the same time, the moves had been interpreted as an indication of Hsieh’s interests in vying for the DPP chairmanship despite Hsieh giving ambiguous answers about his possible bid.
Hsieh was also reportedly seeking to form a coalition with former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in an the arrangement that would allow Hsieh to run for chairman and Tsai to focus on her presidential campaign.
Tsai, who denied the existence of such an alliance, said yesterday during a visit to New Taipei City (新北市) that while consolidation would be crucial, “the DPP’s inner competition would be inevitable,” adding that the practical goal would be “harmonious competition within the party and the eventual election of a chairman with the mandate of strong member support and social recognition.”
The former DPP presidential candidate has been tight-lipped about her plans, but could have the same strategy as Su, looking to win the chairmanship before securing the presidential nomination.
The highlights of Su’s trip to Germany, Belgium and the UK included visits to the European Parliament and the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, where he said in a speech that the DPP would not revise the Taiwan independence clause in its party charter, but that the party would seek active and confident engagement with China.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift