Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to refrain from using ideology to censor its members, after DPP Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) on Wednesday said that the party would expel any member stumping for Ko after Aug. 31, the candidate registration deadline for the November elections.
“Those who stump for Ko will have to make the choice between voluntarily withdrawing from the party and exclusion,” Hsu told SET-TV host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀).
The decision followed reports that several DPP Taipei city councilors and borough wardens have broken ranks with DPP Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智), the party’s Taipei mayoral candidate.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The DPP’s Taipei chapter on Monday voted against nominating Nangang District (南港) Xixin Borough (西新) Warden Chiu Pi-chu (邱碧珠) for re-election, after Chiu endorsed Ko on multiple occasions.
Ko at a ribbon-cutting event said that he thinks the nation should have “soft” political parties that do not compel members to follow an ideological line or pursue collective self-interests.
“Hopefully, the election will change the character of Taiwanese politics,” he added.
Taipei Department of Civil Affairs Commissioner Lan Shih-tsung (藍世聰), a DPP member who has come under fire from party colleagues, said it would be strange for a political appointee to not defend the mayor and his policies.
“Would the Executive Yuan tolerate ministers who do not support the president?” he asked. “I really do not want to be expelled from the party, but what can I do?”
Asked what he would do if the party demands that he stump for Yao, Lan vowed to support Ko regardless of the party’s sanctions, saying that he would not be able to endorse another candidate after declaring his support for Ko at the city council.
“I can vouch that Ko is a hard worker who is deserving of my support,” Lan said.
The DPP should think carefully when wielding party discipline, because it has no power over the will of the people, he said, adding that using disciple to force the party against the people would only harm the party.
Asked to comment on the DPP’s mounting criticism of Lan, Ko said that Lan’s visits to borough wardens and civil groups were strictly related to his work as civil affairs commissioner.
“You cannot forbid the man from leaving his office six months before an election. It is not as if he is a named member of my campaign,” Ko said.
Yao yesterday spoke to reporters after accepting a Broadcasting Corp of China (中廣) interview, during which he rejected the suggestion that the DPP had made the decision to discipline members in response to his flagging approval rating.
“The order to endorse party nominees applies equally to every DPP politician in the nation, and everyone engaged in politics should know that as party members, their speech and actions are subject to discipline,” he said.
Additional reporting by Chou Yan-yu
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
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
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
RSS