Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) yesterday visited the Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) new chairman, Su Chin-chiang (蘇進強), seeking the TSU's support. Chang also expressed the hope that the TSU could help deflect opposition from die-hard supporters of Taiwan's independence to the DPP's proposed cooperation with the People First Party (PFP).
"Although the DPP and the TSU competed keenly with each other during the legislative elections, the TSU will definitely take into account the overriding interests of Taiwan, rather than the party's interest, when it comes to inter-party cooperation," Su said.
Su said both the DPP and the TSU are parties representing the Taiwanese people, adding that they have high standards and are always willing to reconsider the facts.
"Chairmen from both parties stepped down after the legislative election results, which was a demonstration of our responsibility," he said.
"Moreover, former president Lee Teng-hui (
Chang praised Lee, who he said supports inter-party cooperation, as a statesman of foresight, and said he believes that the DPP's incoming chairman, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), would also support Lee's ideas.
However, Chang also expressed pessimism about cooperation between the DPP and the PFP.
"In terms of inter-party cooperation, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has already shown the maximum amount of goodwill to the PFP," Chang said after the meeting. "At this point, the key is whether the PFP will accept it."
However, Chang said, according to his understanding, the possibility of DPP-PFP cooperation was "pretty low."
"It is because of the structure of the PFP's supporters. Most of them will have a lot of difficulty accepting that the PFP can work with the DPP," Chang added.
When asked why the DPP had yielded on the issue of changing the country's official name, citing the cancelation of a special report on the issue by the Executive Yuan, Chang responded that the president has declared clearly that he will continue to push for a change to the country's name.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
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