Established by prominent activists on a platform of civic engagement, the Taiwan Citizen Union (TCU) held its inaugural conference in Taipei yesterday, announcing plans to register as a political party after the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections.
The group has stated its intentions to field candidates for the 2016 legislative elections in a bid to prevent either major political camp from gaining a majority.
Fan Yun (范雲), a professor of sociology at National Taiwan University who was selected to be the first president of the union, said the group aims to achieve political reform through the promotion of direct civic engagement. Social justice and economic equality are also listed among the group’s objectives.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
In a written endorsement of the group, former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) backed Fan’s assertion that electoral politics have lost accountability in reflecting the needs of society.
Lin Feng-cheng (林峰正), former chief executive director of the Judicial Reform Foundation and one of the union’s founders, said that although Lin I-hsiung is a staunch supporter of the nascent group, he will not be involved in its operations.
The group counts Academia Sinica researcher and prominent Sunflower movement leader Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) in its ranks, leading to speculation on whether other Sunflower leaders such as Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) or Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) might join.
Fan said that while Lin Fei-fan and Chen are friends with many union members, they have yet to make a decision on running as candidates, although the group aims to strive to work with the pair.
Given the union’s platform on political reform, Lin Feng-cheng said that it would experiment with new methods of nominating candidates for elections.
“We have an unavoidable mission to reform the process of nominating electoral candidates,” he said, adding that: “Currently, political parties usually appoint their candidates based on the will of a small circle of people. The general public, or even ordinary party members, usually have no say in the decision.”
Regarding the group’s goal of preventing any major party from establishing a hegemony, Fan Yun said that throughout the history of the legislature, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the pan-blue camp have always held a majority.
“After all, the legislature is where many major decisions on political reform are made. If we could change this long-term stance of pan-blue power concentrated in the legislature, perhaps it would have a lasting effect on reform,” Fan said, adding that the group’s possible effects on the DPP’s election performance remained to be seen.
Lin Feng-cheng said the group would not take any particular stance on the Nov. 29 elections.
“While individual members of the TCU could lend their support to candidates, the group would remain focused on the 2016 legislative elections,” he said.
Meanwhile, when asked to comment on the TCU’s founding, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said her party and the group will not be rivals, but partners in reform.
“I know that, recently, people have made a lot of comments about the DPP and many non-governmental groups have criticized us,” Tsai said on the sidelines of a campaign event for DPP Changhua County commissioner candidate Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷). “But I believe that the intentions behind all these critiques are good and we will certainly examine ourselves.”
“The DPP and civic groups have a partner relationship: We have different roles, but we hope that, while playing different roles, we can move toward a shared objective, so we can work hard to fight for Taiwan together,” she added.
Tsai said that three large pictures hanging in DPP headquarters pay homage the party’s history and its founders, and that “these pictures serve as reminders that the DPP has come such a long way because of the support of the public, and it is the will of the people and of its members that the party forward.”
“If the DPP is to move forward, we must remember to stand alongside the public,” Tsai said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS