Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), longtime political rivals who could meet in the party’s chairmanship election in May, yesterday exchanged verbal jabs over reports of Chinese interference in the election.
In a keynote speech to the DPP’s Central Standing Committee on Wednesday, Taiwan Thinktank councilor Tung Li-wen (董立文) said Beijing’s planned to “eliminate Su” due to the chairman’s hawkish China policy.
The remarks were made after Hsieh had left the meeting early and were criticized by several party members as a political maneuver to boost Su’s possible re-election campaign — Su has not made official announcement on a bid — and paint Hsieh as Beijing’s favored candidate in the election.
Photo: CNA
Responding to a media inquiry about the so-called “eliminate Su plan,” Hsieh said yesterday that the speech’s timing, coming after his early departure from the meeting, was “rude.”
China’s political plan could be targeted at any DPP politician, Hsieh said without elaborating.
Su said he had not read Tung’s report before the meeting, but Tung’s assessment made sense as Beijing has always tried to discredit anyone who safeguards Taiwanese identity and values.
Su denied that being Beijing’s enemy would benefit a re-election campaign, saying that he “did not care much about what favors me and what works against me.”
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said Tung’s remarks “could have exaggerated things a little bit,” but were not groundless.
“It does not take a genius to know that Beijing would try to marginalize, discredit and attack those who are pro-Taiwan. It has been very clear — and I have said all along — that China will interfere with all elections in Taiwan, including the DPP’s chairman election,” Lu said.
Lu — one of the aspirants for the DPP’s nomination in the Taipei mayoral election — said that former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan’s (連戰) meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing shortly before the expected announcement of his son’s participation in the Taipei mayoral election was a case of Chinese interference, apparently referring to former Taipei EasyCard Co chairman Sean Lien’s (連勝文) likely campaign run for Taipei mayor.
Former chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who could also participate in the chairman election, said she had never heard of the “eliminate Su plan.”
The DPP would be well advised to find out where the report came from, she added.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS