The planned merger between the People First Party (PFP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is unlikely to occur before the year-end legislative elections, PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) said yesterday.
The KMT must first resolve internal issues and align its ideologies with the PFP before the party will consider a merger, Soong said.
Speaking at a press conference in Taipei, Soong responded to questions about a possible earlier date for the merger, as suggested by two PFP stalwarts on Tuesday.
Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) and her brother, Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華), unexpectedly said on Tuesday that they would like to see the pan-blue merger occur on Oct. 10, national day, and months ahead of the February deadline previously endorsed by Soong.
"Both Diane Lee and Lee Ching-hua are exceptional members of the PFP. Whatever opinions they have should be discussed with the party," Soong said, adding that while neither legislator had spoken to him before or after the announcement, he believed the two held the same ideals as all PFP members.
"The timing of the merger and the name of the resultant party are unimportant. What is important is that we hold to our values," Soong said.
When asked if the legislators' remarks indicated that the PFP was a sinking ship, Soong said that the two's popularity only confirmed the PFP's success as a party.
"Their approval ratings are the highest of all the PFP legislators. Would it be possible for them to be so successful if their party was not successful?" Soong asked.
Soong used the press conference to discuss his rationale for a February merger.
"A merger in February would mean that we begin motions for a merger as soon as the year-end legislative elections end," he said.
An earlier merger would be difficult, he added, given that the KMT still has issues and financial woes to solve within its own ranks.
Ideology is one such issue, Soong said, stressing that the PFP will not merge with a party that holds to "the path set by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝)."
Without detailing what he meant by his reference to Lee Teng-hui, Soong implied that Lee's policies had created ethnic conflict, escalated cross-strait instability and sheltered corruption.
The KMT must remove mem-bers who support the former president's policies, and who are "blue-skinned, but green to the bone."
The PFP supports unification with China and is strongly opposed to the Taiwanese nationalism and self-determination paths followed by the former president.
Soong also blasted the administration for pushing a NT$610.8 billion (US$18 billion) budget to buy arms from the US.
"The PFP believes in a strong national defense. However, many of the figures about the budget are lies," Soong said.
"Some experts have said the arms purchased by the budget will keep Taiwan safe for the next 30 years. That is a very irresponsible thing to say," he said.
The budget has sparked a public outcry. A large parade to protest the arms purchase is set to take place in Taipei tomorrow.
While the PFP has stated its support for the parade, Soong said his attendance at the event was dependent on the approval of the parade's organizers.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
RSS