Celebrating the first anniversary of his party's founding yesterday, People First Party (PFP) Chairman, James Soong (宋楚瑜), accused the DPP government of betraying its ideals and dogmatic government, saying that only the PFP could realize the true spirit of "the third way" to bring about cooperation between the peoples on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Soong coined the slogan "new Taiwanese-ism" (新台灣人主義) to symbolize the PFP's platform as he addressed supporters at a party rally last night saying he would lead the party to power in two stages -- winning the year-end legislative, county commissioner and mayoral elections and then the presidential election in three years' time.
"The people are now wondering why, after one year of DPP rule, the achievements of the former government -- such as economic development, stable cross-strait relations, and even public order -- have been wiped out," Soong said. "Furthermore, the problems for which the DPP used to attack the KMT, including vote-buying, manipulating the media, and ineffectiveness of post-quake reconstruction, have become more serious," Soong added.
He said that while the DPP had turned its back on its slogan of a "new middle way" -- which President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) advocated during last year's presidential campaign -- and instead adopted a dogmatic approach to government, the PFP would be the only party that could ally with "center ground" voters to share power and tolerate all different opinions.
Soong then explained his "new Taiwanism," saying it included nationalism, democracy, and social well-being -- founding father of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen's (孫中山), "Three Principles of the People" (三民主義).
He said that the principle of new Taiwan nationalism meant that all ethnic groups in Taiwan should be equal, that Taiwan should not be separated from China, and that the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are members of the same family and should share the same destiny.
Turning to his second principle, Soong said that democracy meant that the ruling party should never abuse the government's resources to benefit the party itself, and that all public servants should maintain political neutrality and also be protected from dismissal following changes of government.
As far as social well-being was concerned, Soong called for the coordination of Taiwan's technology and capital with China's manpower and market.
The PFP was formed by Soong at the urging of his supporters shortly after he narrowly lost the March 18 presidential election last year. Soong, a former KMT heavyweight, ran as an independent.
Political observers have repeatedly criticized the PFP for failing to produce a concrete party platform, and said that the party is a "one man party," propped up by Soong's reputation.
"During the past year, the PFP has never expressed a concrete attitude about any political event. It has just focused on attacking the government's shortcomings," said Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), editor-in-chief of Contemporary (當代) magazine. "The party just plays the strategy of `fence-sitter' to take advantage of the conflict between the opposition KMT and ruling DPP."
Chin said that Soong's "new Taiwanism" was still an empty slogan, which needed to be substantiated with concrete action, and urged Soong to prove that his party was truly different from the KMT and had the determination to rectify the shortcomings which led to his defeat in the presidential election.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
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