Former Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said she would be willing to drop her presidential bid pending negotiations with senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians.
Heavily trailing other DPP politicians in every popular poll, Lu called on DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to grant her a closed-door meeting saying that “we have many things we need to talk about.”
“If she or other DPP [politicians] can convince me … about how they are going to run the country, I would even be willing to be [their] campaign manager,” Lu said at a press conference. “Nobody should say that I am against DPP unity.”
“These aren’t empty words. Somebody just has to make me believe that they want Taiwan to be better and not worse,” she added.
The announcement, which comes just three days after she launched her well-publicized -presidential bid, likely signals a willingness to back down and find middle ground with other DPP contenders in the face of opposition to her bid from party politicians.
Tsai and former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), seen as frontrunners for the DPP ticket, held closed-door negotiations on Sunday, which did not include Lu and is understood to have involved discussion on who would be better suited to represent the DPP.
That discussion was a precursor to a larger meeting between party politicians this Sunday, which will include Lu along with other party heavyweights including Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), another possible contender.
However, Lu, incensed over her lack of inclusion in the earlier meeting, wants to make sure that her own closed-door meeting with Tsai is staged before the larger discussion on Sunday — a request that DPP officials have agreed to.
The meeting should be “modeled exactly” on the Tsai-Su talks, Lu said. Questioned about the purpose of the meeting, she said there were “secrets” she wanted to speak to Tsai about, apparently referring to her flexibility on her presidential bid.
She added she would also like to meet with Su before the larger discussion takes place.
DPP spokesperson Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) responded by saying: “As long as it’s to help the DPP become more unified, any meeting [with Lu] is a good thing. We are already looking for a time.”
Party analysts, however, say that it is still too early to dismiss Lu’s campaign, which despite her remarks, has shown no signs of slowing down. Sources reveal that Lu is forging ahead with organizing her staff and campaign office.
Lu yesterday released her second policy outline dealing with women’s rights and said she has received an endorsement from a prominent international women’s organization.
The presidential primaries have been a delicate issue for DPP politicians and especially Tsai over the past month. The party is eager to avoid a repeat of the 2008 campaign, which saw mud-slinging and personal attacks by party contenders.
Sunday will mark the first round of major discussions over choosing a DPP candidate. The party hopes it will not have to resort to telephone polls in the primaries that could delay the process by more than a month.
A poll conducted by TVBS news showed Su most likely represents the DPP’s best chance against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) next year, closely followed by Tsai and then Lu.
Conducted between Feb. 28 and March 1, the survey showed that if the elections were held now, Ma would take 41 percent of the vote against 39 percent for Su. Tsai, on the other hand, would garner 37 percent against Ma while Lu would take 17 percent. The poll has a margin of error of 3.4 percent, 19 times out of 20.
‘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 High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS