The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) opens a two-day meeting today in Greater Taichung to discuss policies and a unified position on a number of agendas, in particular on several cross-strait issues, for the upcoming extra legislative session.
Convened by DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the “enlarged policy meeting” is to bring together DPP legislators, party officials as well as mayors, and commissioners of DPP-governed administrative zones or their deputies.
On the agenda are the party’s policies on the cross-strait service trade agreement, which is awaiting legislative screening, a monitoring mechanism for cross-strait agreements in the Legislative Yuan and the free economic pilot zones (FEPZs), a project targeting primarily Chinese investments.
The attendees are also expected to discuss the upcoming review of Control Yuan and Examination Yuan members in the legislature’s extra session, which is to begin on Friday.
The meeting is to be an enlarged version of the party’s weekly policy coordination meeting, organized to coordinate opinions and positions from the DPP legislative caucus and party headquarters, according to DPP spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青).
The DPP under the leadership of former chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) had been often described as “out of synch” over the past two years as party headquarters and the caucus sometimes had different views and plans for issues.
DPP spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said more than 80 percent of the 40 DPP lawmakers are expected to attend the meeting, adding that Yilan County Commissioner Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) would attend, with Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung sending deputy mayors.
The expanded meeting, which Tsai described as a “consensus-building boot camp,” was on Tsai’s list of priorities unveiled on Thursday.
Other than the camp, Tsai —who assumed the party helm on May 28 and said that there would be “no honeymoon period” for her second stint as party chair — listed a citizen economics conference and a citizen constitution conference as important because “Taiwan cannot wait.”
Winning the seven-in-one election in November is the party’s most important short-term goal, which is why a special committee on the elections has been established, Tsai said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it