The Taiwan Action Party Alliance (TAPA), formed yesterday with the support of traditional pan-green voters and Taiwanese independence groups, could draw a sizeable block of votes away from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), political figures attending the party’s launch said.
Many people who joined TAPA yesterday said that they were dissatisfied with the actions and policies of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her administration, adding that they would have preferred to see former premier William Lai (賴清德) become the DPP’s presidential nominee.
“A Tsai-Lai ticket would improve Tsai’s chance of winning, but we are not sure if that would be the best combination,” former presidential advisor Wu Li-pei (吳澧培) said.
“To be honest, I am very disappointed with Tsai’s performance in her first three years as president,” he said.
“However, she has recently said things that we are more receptive to, so in the near future, we will pay more attention to what she does than to what she says,” he added.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who announced she was leaving the DPP last year after it did not pick her to be its Taipei mayoral candidate, was loudly applauded as she condemned Tsai and the DPP for their policy direction.
Many long-time DPP members had sacrificed much in fighting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime to achieve democracy in Taiwan, Lu said, but “through changing administrations a few times, the DPP has become, so many believe, more like the KMT.”
“What happened to the DPP’s founding ideals?” she said. “Where are the DPP’s moral values — the party’s soul?”
Lu compared Taiwan’s current situation to that of the Titanic, saying: “This ship could hit an iceberg and sink if the leaders at the helm make blunders.”
She urged the parties that support Taiwanese independence to form an alliance for next year’s presidential election.
“With so many new parties being formed, I worry that Taiwan’s democracy might become a bubble that will burst,” Lu said. “I want to convince the leaders of these groups, who have similar aims and principles, to consolidate their forces, because we cannot afford to split further.”
Most people who support TAPA are DPP members, but they are very unhappy with Tsai’s stance on maintaining the “status quo” and her unwillingness to push the Taiwan-independence issue, said former Taiwan Independence Party chairman Tseng Miao-hung (曾淼泓), a retired army colonel, adding that they think she is afraid of Beijing.
“Tsai’s policies and stance on several core issues have created their dissatisfaction, and TAPA is drawing grassroots support away from the DPP, which could be critical in January’s elections,” he said.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern