President Chen Shui-bian (
"The first mission for chairman Chen is to arrange a summit of party leaders to discuss state issues and build a consensus," said Secretary-General to the President Chen Shih-meng (
Chen Shih-meng listed three major missions President Chen will undertake after taking over the chairmanship: reforming the party, improving cross-strait ties and reconciling with the opposition parties.
"President Chen is sincerely expecting that these efforts can effectively eliminate conflict between the government and opposition alliance and end the deadlock between two sides of the Taiwan Strait," Chen Shih-meng said.
A close aide to the president said that since Chen took office in May 2000, the DPP has functioned poorly, with the party's Central Headquarters failing to coordinate with its legislative caucus and the Cabinet, leading to charges the government is being run inefficiently.
"Now that he is the chairman, the president can directly discuss national policy with party leaders from the Legislative Yuan and Executive Yuan through the weekly meeting of party's Central Standing Committee," the aide said. "And now the president will personally lead the DPP in carrying out party reform, which is the only way to bring new life to the DPP."
Chen Shih-meng said that President Chen can also use his position as DPP chairman to help create a second channel, through the party, to open dialogue with the Chinese government.
"During the past two years, President Chen has already demonstrated goodwill to show Taiwan's sincerity in wanting to resume negotiations with Beijing," Chen Shih-meng said. "However, China has not reacted positively to Chen's administration.
"Therefore, the president would like to respond to Beijing's offer to DPP members to visit. President Chen declared last month that he will send a DPP delegation to visit mainland China to arrange more exchanges between the two ruling parties."
To deal with domestic political strife, the president is pushing for a summit with leaders of the main parties in Taiwan. The first steps toward such a meeting are being taken by the incoming DPP secretary-general and former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
"President Chen wants to reaffirm that the summit has neither preconditions nor a prearranged agenda," the aide to the president said. "The most important thing is that the president will listen to all the suggestions of the parties' leaders and talk with them to end the misunderstandings and misgivings created by making statements to the media."
But with his increased powers, political observers say, the president will not be able to blame others for the standoffs between the ruling and opposition parties. He will have to be cautious in using his power and set a good example in dealing with the other parties to ensure he can keep his campaign promises, they said.
"Since taking office in 2000, President Chen has attributed the failure of his administration to irrational boycotts by the opposition parties," said Ku Chung-hwa (
"But there has not been much improvement in Taiwan's political environment since the swearing in of the new legislature, and Chen then argued that it is because the ruling DPP had not adapted to its new role and its functions were weakened," Ku said.
"So he pushed for the idea of synchronizing the party and the administration by taking the party's chairmanship. People didn't blame him for breaking his campaign promise of not partaking in party affairs; instead, they still pin their hopes on A-bian.
"But now he has become the paramount leader of the country with all the political and economic power and resources, he will not be able to shift the blame onto others. In the next 18 months, people will watch closely to see if the president can really demonstrate his will to undertake reforms and implement the ideas of his administration," Ku said.
The general public is actually wary about the president serving as the DPP chairman, Ku said. People sympathize with the president for not having enough power and disapprove of the oppositions' irrational behavior, he said, but they are concerned the president might just care about whether he has "enough" power while ignoring issues such as the quality of policies and coming up with concrete measures.
Ku believed that in his capacity as president and party chairman, Chen would have many channels and ways to demonstrate his power. But he will also have to "share power" and "set standards."
"For example, in terms of creating constructive interaction with other political parties, how can Chen show his sincerity? And how can a line be drawn in the decision-making process in the DPP Central Standing Committee ... so that party interests will not dominate the policies made by the Cabinet," Ku said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS