Amid growing criticism from the public and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday jumped to defend KMT Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) decision to run for president without resigning as New Taipei City mayor.
KMT Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) yesterday shared two pictures on Facebook detailing the names of DPP members and overseas politicians who have run for new positions without resigning their current seats.
“Politicians running for new positions without quitting their current posts is common practice around the world, and has been seen in the US, France and South Korea,” Tsai said in one of the pictures, citing US President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State John Kerry, former French president Jacques Chirac and South Korean President Park Geun-hye as examples.
In another picture, Tsai accused the DPP of pointing one finger to accuse while forgetting that four of its fingers are pointing at itself, saying 33 DPP members who have done the same as Chu since 1997, including former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮).
“So, DPP members can run for new posts while clinging to their current offices, but KMT members cannot?” Tsai asked.
KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said that if the New Taipei City Council’s DPP caucus intended to launch an impeachment drive against Chu, maybe it should also do the same to four of his peers who were running for legislator seats despite being elected city councilors just 10 months ago.
“Many DPP members have also made the same choice as Chu. For example, Lu remained in her post as then-Taoyuan County commissioner when competing for the vice presidency in 2000,” Lu said.
Lu was referring to an online impeachment motion put forward by New Taipei City councilor Ho Po-wen (何博文) of the DPP shortly after Chu revealed yesterday morning that he would not step down as mayor and was to take a three-month leave of absence to focus on his presidential campaign.
Lu’s colleague, Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆), said it was unfair for the DPP to be too critical of the KMT on this issue, given that there have been many similar cases involving the party’s city mayors, county commissioners, lawmakers and city councilors.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) accused the DPP of double standards.
“Politicians running for new posts without resigning from their current positions is commonplace both overseas and at home. Former US presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were both governors when they ran for president,” Lin said.
It must be concluded from the regularity of the practice in democratic countries worldwide that it does not inherently raise issues, but is more a question of whether voters believe in a candidate’s ability to steer the country in the right direction, Lin said.
The DPP’s criticism of Chu is hypocritical, Lin added, calling for a return from unfounded and malicious attacks against opponents to a rational debate over policies.
‘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