The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is set to focus on the issues of its primary format and member rights regulation at its party congress today after defusing a potential spat over a bid to readmit imprisoned former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to the party.
DPP Legislator Mark Chen (陳唐山), convener of the One Country, One Side Alliance, founded by the former president, said yesterday afternoon that he has withdrawn a proposal to reinstate Chen Shui-bian’s membership.
Chen Shui-bian quit the party in August 2008.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The DPP’s Central Standing Committee agreed on Wednesday that the former president, who is serving a 20-year sentence for corruption, could directly apply for a membership by going through the standard process, which begins with a local office’s preliminary review, before a final review of a special panel at party headquarters.
The resolution was seen as an invalidation of Mark Chen’s proposal, which had been endorsed by hundreds of DPP members who say the former leader has suffered political persecution at the hands of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration and the DPP should welcome him back and seek justice for his case.
However, Mark Chen had no intention of pulling his the proposal until yesterday.
The withdrawal, at least temporarily, defused a ticking time bomb that could have disrupted today’s congress because Chen’s rejoining the party remains a divisive topic. Those opposed to it say his return would likely jeopardize the party’s image.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday that while Chen Shui-bian has the right to apply for membership, his health and a medical parole should be prioritized over politicial considerations.
Playing down the focus on the former president, former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said the DPP should handle the membership application issue with a uniform standard to highlight it would be a party which rules by law.
Other issues on the congress agenda include the party’s primary format as well as regulations on members’ right to vote and to be elected — both major factors that could impact the seven-in-one elections next year and the DPP’s primary for the 2015 presidential election.
The party has been mulling the reinstatement of party-member voting in its primaries for elections to replace the current mechanism that determines party nominations solely on public opinion polls — a change made by Su’s predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), due to complaints from party members.
However, recent controversies surrounding reported cases of mass applications, the involvement of gangsters and the party’s oft criticized nominal member system appeared to have changed the momentum as many members worried that the member-voting mechanism would be exploited by political infighting.
Tsai said in a press release yesterday that her insistence on retaining the current mechanism due to the old format’s “systemic risk.”
She voiced support a measure announced by Su earlier this month, which stipulates tthat to vote in the party primary members must have belonged to the party for at least two years, as opposed to the previous one-year requirement.
While the change would strip the new members’ right to vote and to be elected, she said, the risk of gangsters’ influence would be “too much to take.”
Other proposals expected to be submitted to a vote at the congress also include a “Resolution on Human Rights Exchanges Across the Taiwan Strait,” which aimed at shifting the direction of bilateral engagement from politics and economics to universal values of democracy and human rights, and an initiative that calls for holding a China policy debate to build a party consensus on the direction of future cross-strait engagement.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
Typhoon Krathon, a military airshow and rehearsals for Double Ten National Day celebrations might disrupt flights at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in the first 10 days of next month, the airport’s operator said yesterday. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a statement that it has established a response center after the Central Weather Administration issued a sea warning for Krathon, and urged passengers to remain alert to the possibility of disruptions caused by the storm in the coming days. Flight schedules might also change while the air force conducts rehearsals and holds a final airshow for Double Ten National Day, it added. Although
SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday. Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years. She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
RSS