People First Party (PFP) Vice Chairman Chang Chao-hsiung (張昭雄) yesterday said that he would stay with the party on condition that it pushes through a long-stalled bill calling for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to return stolen assets to the nation.
Chang's proposal, however, got a lukewarm response with PFP Spokesman Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) saying that the party needed time to think it over.
Chang made the remarks at a meeting of the PFP's legislative caucus.
Chang decided to resign as vice chairman following James Soong's (
PFP lawmakers had expressed their wish that either Soong or Chang would stay and continue leading the party.
"The KMT's huge assets have distorted Taiwan's democratic process and pose an obstacle to establishing a level playing field for party politics. If [PFP members] agree to pass the party-assets statute to second reading, I would stay and work with them," Chang said.
The party-assets statute is aimed at divesting assets improperly obtained by political parties, which would force the KMT to return its stolen assets to the state.
The statute has been boycotted by KMT and PFP lawmakers since the Cabinet sent it to the legislature for review in October.
Lee said that Chang's offer suggests that he really has no intention of staying with the party as the passage of the statute might impair the party's relationship with the KMT.
"It's a significant matter. We need some time to deliberate on it," Lee said.
PFP Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan