Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Chia-chen (盧嘉辰) yesterday said he had initiated a signature drive calling on the party to immediately withdraw its appeal of a court ruling on Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) party membership.
Lu said he hoped the long drawn out litigation would come to an end soon, which “would be favorable to the party’s unity and reform efforts.”
Lu said he already has the support of about 20 KMT legislators — about one-third of the party’s 63 members in the 113-seat legislature.
The lawsuit involving Wang’s KMT membership has caused a serious rift in the party, Lu said.
“Whatever the party’s reason for filing the appeal, outsiders will see it as internal party conflict,” he said. “This will add to the KMT’s troubles and will not help its efforts at reform and unity.”
He expressed the hope that New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), who assumed leadership of the KMT earlier yesterday, would heed the call of the majority of party members and retract the appeal as soon as possible.
In September 2013, the KMT’s Evaluation and Discipline Committee revoked Wang’s membership amid allegations that he had used his influence to sway a legal case.
The incident was dubbed by the media as the “September strife” between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the KMT chairman at the time, and Wang.
The committee’s decision could have cost Wang his seat as a KMT legislator-at-large and his position as legislative speaker, which he has held since 1999, but he fought back by suing the KMT for stripping him of his membership.
Both the Taipei District Court and the Taiwan High Court ruled in favor of Wang, and the KMT filed an appeal with the Supreme Court late last year.
Lin Rong-te (林榮德), a member of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee, yesterday said that many of the committee’s members support Lu’s view that the appeal should be withdrawn.
“This involves the future of the KMT, and everyone expects the matter to be brought to a close,” Lin said, adding that he would communicate with Chu over the next two days.
“Everyone knows that Wang is an asset in the legislature and we need him more than ever at this time,” Lin said.
Meanwhile, Wang said he would respect whatever decision Chu makes on the matter of the appeal.
“Let things take their natural course,” he said, adding that he had not been aware of Lu’s proposal.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS