The New Power Party (NPP) will break away from a proposed coalition with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for next year’s legislative elections if the DPP denies smaller parties opportunities to collaborate on better terms, NPP legislative candidate Hu Po-yen (胡博硯) said.
In an interview published yesterday with the Chinese-language Taiwan People News, Hu said: “The NPP’s support for [DPP presidential candidate] Tsai Ing-wen [蔡英文] is conditional. The DPP’s precondition for a coalition is the NPP’s support for Tsai. If the DPP is not willing to coordinate with the NPP, the NPP will break away from Tsai.”
The DPP has stumbled in a nascent bid to build alliances with smaller parties to end the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) legislative majority in next year’s elections.
Long-time political activist and anti-nuclear power campaigner Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) last week accused the party of failing to offer better terms to form the coalition — referring to what he described as the DPP’s unwillingness to nominate fewer candidates to create space for minority parties — which would stifle the electoral chances of the third political forces, he said, calling the DPP “bastards” and “extremely stupid.”
Hu said that not every minority party is willing to collaborate with the DPP, and if the DPP is not open to negotiation and slaps down potential coalition partners, there will be no coalition of any sort.
“We would rather be ‘killed in action’ and lose the elections than beg the DPP [for an endorsement],” he said, adding that the DPP should show some sincerity in seeking a coalition, he said.
The NPP risks being labeled part of the pan-green camp by seeking collaboration with the DPP, which has nevertheless refused to make room for the NPP, he said, adding that the DPP is to blame if the coalition breaks down.
“Tsai cares about nothing but the presidential election,” Hu said, adding that the DPP has not offered any help to the NPP for the elections because it considers the NPP candidates “nobodies,” he said.
The DPP responded that it has been persistently willing — with good intentions — to work with new parties.
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
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