In the Cabinet's decision to make a U-turn on the controversy over whether construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (
Ironically, Chiou was the first in the DPP to opt for hawkish strategies toward the plant controversy. After Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) announced a halt to construction on Oct. 27, Chiou immediately attended the DPP's Central Standing Committee meeting, asking for support from all party members and flatly rejecting any compromising attitude.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"Let's all get prepared for a tough fight," he told the committee members.
Chiou's New Tide faction (
Having been the party's secretary-general for many years, Chiou also worked as Chen's campaign manager during the presidential election. His expertise in making political judgements and plotting strategy was highly recommended by and sometimes adopted by Chen.
Yet, after last March's election, when Chen no longer needed the New Tide's support as much as he had during the campaign, the president tried to distance himself a bit from Chiou by appointing him deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council (NSC).
However, the New Tide's ability to win internal power struggles as the DPP battled to find its way as a ruling party won Chiou his current position in the Cabinet.
It also made him the key link between the faction and Chen, senior China Times reporter Liou Pao-jye (
"He is in a perfect position to coordinate between the Cabinet and the party," he said.
"As leader of the New Tide faction -- the major opposition force [to the Cabinet's renunciation yesterday] -- he can certainly relax a lot of pressure from the party [on the Cabinet]," Liou added.
However, a DPP legislator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Chiou should be held responsible for the government's failure to defend the Cabinet's earlier decision to scrap the plant.
"It's not that Chiou compromised. It's a New Tide plot to exchange [its support] for more administrative resources by asking its members to show a strong backlash to the Cabinet's decision while its own leader endorsed it," the legislator said.
Liou, however, disagreed saying that Chen should shoulder full responsibility for the failure of the government's policy, not Chiou.
Liou also said that he believed Chiou has grasped the DPP government's dilemma -- having to face political reality during the pursuit of political ideals -- better than anyone else in the party.
"It would be better if both the president and the New Tide could cooperate with each other, however, it seems that there is an invisible tension between them," an NSC official said, adding that Chiou had more power in his current post than he did when he was in the NSC post.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
RSS