A power struggle between Vice President Annette Lu (
At around 7pm yesterday, the Presidential Office issued a short press release saying that Lu intended to resign as the DPP's acting chairperson, since "she does not want to be a sacrificial offering in the struggle between factions." Lu became the DPP's acting chairperson just last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, according to DPP officials and lawmakers, Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun has been persuaded to run for his party's chairmanship to help stabilize the president's hold on power.
Lu yesterday canceled her meeting with DPP officials, purportedly because of a recurring eye condition. Some media reports have speculated that the cancelation was a result of Chen's displeasure with Lu's aggressive approach to party affairs since she took over the office from former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (
Too active?
On Saturday, Lu said that she was "watching the DPP on behalf of President Chen" when she inspected the troubled construction site for the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System. According to a report in the Liberty Times, Chen, who has struggled over the past week to keep different factions in the DPP balanced and avoid becoming a lame duck after the election result, was displeased with Lu's remarks and criticized her for going "too far" in her remarks in Kaohsiung.
Chen reportedly expressed discontent over Lu's hard-charging manner. Lu's recent activities, including inspecting the site in Kaohsiung and planning a meeting on party reform, has led to criticism that she was too obviously trying to position herself as a candidate for the 2008 presidential election.
Local Chinese-language news-papers said Chen had criticized Lu for "taking advantage of others' intrigues."
Chen did not respond yesterday to such reports describing tension between him and Lu, but did cancel his regular Monday meeting with her.
Lu has suggested punishment for DPP Legislator Peter Lin (林進興) over his involvement in questioning Taichung Mayor Jason Hu's health and releasing Hu's medical records during the election campaign.
Lu also proposed holding a large-scale conference on party reform while dining with DPP lawmakers and members of the party's central standing committee on Sunday.
However, many of the participants dissuaded Lu from holding that conference before a new chairperson is elected, and noted that the acting chairperson's primary job is to organize an election for the next party chairman.
Although Lu has said she has no intention of campaigning for the DPP chairmanship, DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui (
"Vice President Lu's aggressive moves will bother the new chairperson if she is not the new DPP leader," Lin Cho-shui said yesterday.
Strong candidate
A high-ranking official who was one of Yu's staff members when he served as the premier said on condition of anonymity that Yu is now planning to join in the election for the DPP chairmanship because many different factions voiced support for him running against Lu.
The official said that Yu gets along well with Chen and is more "trustworthy" from the president's perspective. Yu is also a candidate who is accepted by the DPP's two main factions, the New Tide (
"President Chen has good communication with Yu and I think Yu might be a candidate who can coordinate the government and the party to be more consistent in policy," DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (
also see story:
DPP lawmakers differ on alleged Chen-Lu dispute
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
RSS