Former vice president Annette Lu’s (呂秀蓮) participation became the focus of official discussions yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on the coming presidential campaign.
The only DPP politician so far to have declared her intention to run for president next year, Lu, whose attendance was initially uncertain, eventually showed up at the high-profile discussions, which involved a dozen of the party’s most senior members.
The discussions centered on avoiding a repeat of the damaging primaries of 2008, when presidential hopefuls traded barbs and insults.
Participants called to the meeting by DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said as they entered that they hoped the discussions could spark party unity, calling it key to taking back the nation’s presidency next year.
Attendees said the group arrived at a resolution affirming the importance of party harmony and agreed on another meeting in the future. However, no date was set.
The get-together came after months of speculation that Tsai and former premiers Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) could declare their candidacies before a party imposed deadline of March 21.
The three attended the meeting along with other party heavyweights, including former Examination Yuan president Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) and Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊).
DPP officials said the discussions were held to provide a basis for potential DPP presidential candidates to exchange opinions before the primaries next month.
Tsai wanted to keep party members in accord for the coming elections and had told participants that “anything is open to discussion,” DPP officials said.
However, the primary focus remained on Lu, who declared her intention last Monday to run despite polls showing she would only have a slim chance of winning the DPP ticket. Prior to that, she was involved in a row with Tsai over how the presidential primaries would be held.
Lu initially cited a conflict in schedule despite having hinted earlier that she would attend the meeting. She later arrived after a last-minute appeal by the DPP secretary-general.
A DPP source said party politicians were deeply concerned about her participation at the meeting, contending that she was the first member consulted about the timing of the meeting.
“[The meeting] wasn’t easy to organize. Lu was the main priority and we took into consideration her timing the most,” the source said.
Lu was reportedly upset after she did not receive an invitation to a meeting between Tsai and Su last week. The talks were not made public, but are believed to have centered on the presidential campaign.
The former vice president demanded on Thursday that a similar meeting between Tsai and herself be held. However, after the DPP agreed to her request, Lu subsequently canceled the talks, the party source said.
The failure to hold the meeting on Saturday afternoon has led to concerns in the party about a deepening spat between the two, coming just weeks before primaries are scheduled to be held.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS