Human rights lawyer Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said yesterday that emerging “third force” political parties — such as the Green Party, Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the New Power Party (NPP) — should carefully consider their relationships with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Lai questioned recent remarks from veteran political activist Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), who on Friday said that the DPP should yield at least 30 constituencies to minor parties in next year’s legislative elections.
Basing their campaigns on “begging for constituencies” from the DPP would make it impossible for emerging political parties to monitor the actions of a future DPP administration, Lai said.
He added that “third force” parties should make clear whether they espouse different values and policy visions than the DPP, or whether they have joined the legislative campaign only to prevent the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) from retaining a majority.
If the latter is true, would-be candidates could simply sign up for the DPP primaries or seek DPP endorsements as independents, Lai said.
He said that the Green Party was the only party to oppose Taiwan’s membership in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), in contrast with the DPP’s support of conditional membership.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Lai cautioned new political parties to steer away from “bigwig politics.”
“Under Lin I-hsiung’s shadow, the ‘third force’ is standing at the crossroads,” Lai wrote.
The SDP and the NPP emerged from the Taiwan Citizens’ Union, an advocacy group that was heavily influenced by Lin when it was founded last year.
Lai said that too close of a relationship with the DPP could hamper the independence of new parties and prevent them from becoming progressive forces in the legislature.
He also asked whether voters are easily “transferable” between the DPP and minor parties in the absence of long-term communication and organization efforts.
Lin sparked controversy on Wednesday for pledging his vote to veteran political activist and former DPP chairman Shih Ming-te’s (施明德) presidential bid, but later said that he was misinterpreted.
“I am not endorsing him; I merely said that I would give him my single vote. It is that simple,” Lin said on Friday, adding he would vote for Shih purely out of camaraderie in fighting against the KMT regime.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
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