Reports of an internal feud between top Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials and members of rival factions was denied yesterday by the party.
The latest edition of the Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday reported that Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) had strongly criticized several top members for blaming her for the DPP’s losses in farmers’ association elections on Feb. 19.
The elections for 1,105 local farmers’ association posts saw the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) retain the majority of seats.
Some people have said those polls could be a bellwether for next year’s local government elections.
According to the magazine, Chen, a prominent member of the DPP’s former New Tide faction, criticized the party’s leadership for spreading rumors that she had supported a KMT candidate in the farmers’ elections in exchange for assistance for DPP Legislator Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) — a close aide of Chen — in next year’s mayoral elections.
DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) and DPP Secretary-General Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福), who belong to President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) “faction,” were reported to be the prime targets of the criticism, the magazine said.
The incident has been interpreted as a sign of escalating tension between the two groups, as the Tsai faction appears poised to field candidates for the mayoral races in Kaohsiung and Tainan, which are New Tide’s strongholds.
Tsai invited top party members to a dinner on Monday last week to resolve the dispute, Next said.
Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), convener of the DPP’s electoral strategy committee and therefore responsible for directing the DPP’s campaign in the farmers’ association elections, yesterday said that Chen Chu’s tone was “excited” during the dinner, but she did not lose her composure.
She made some simple comments on the Feb. 19 elections and there was no argument or criticism involved, he said.
The dinner was successful, and “mutual understanding was reached between participants in terms of their different views [on the association elections] and the misunderstanding caused by the ‘passing on of messages,’” he said.
From the electoral strategy committee’s point of view, it was obvious that the party should secure a minimum amount of seats in each city and county in the association elections, but local governments did not want to antagonize association members or turn the elections into a bipartisan fight, Chen Ming-wen said.
“Although [the DPP] did not succeed in the association elections, it can restart from the failure,” he said. “We do not want the elections to cause disharmony in the party.”
“Everyone supports Tsai, and everyone belongs to the Tsai faction,” he said in response to the rumored confrontation between the Tsai faction and the New Tide.
The electoral strategy committee would be more careful about passing along messages as well the party’s internal “ecosystem” to maintain harmony, he said.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese