Having three political parties in the legislature with each controlling less than half of the seats would be an important turning point for Taiwan’s politics, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
Ko, the chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), made the remark on the sidelines of a campaign event for a TPP legislative candidate when asked about Hon Hai Precision Industry founder Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) comments about his ideal number of parties in the legislature.
Gou on Saturday said that having two major and two minor parties in the legislature would be ideal, as it would give people more options, as opposed to having one dominant party or two balancing parties.
Photo: Hsu Kuo-chen, Taipei Times
If there are two major parties and one minor party, the latter might become arrogant, he added.
Gou’s aides have been included in the TPP’s and People First Party’s (PFP) legislator-at-large nominee lists, and they are among the TPP’s legislative candidates for the Jan. 11 elections.
Ko said that Gou simultaneously supports the TPP and PFP, and probably supports some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, so he would want to expand his influence as far as possible.
However, in the single-district, two-votes system, it is difficult for “third force” parties to gain influence, Ko said.
Over the past two decades, the New Party, the PFP, the Taiwan Solidarity Union and the New Power Party have gained popularity, but then declined, he said.
“If third-force parties become ‘small pan-blue or pan-green parties,’ they would be repeating the failed experiences and will likely not succeed,” Ko said.
That is why the TPP emphasizes “national governance” and does not want to take part in the conflict between the pro-independence and pro-unification camps, he said.
Having three parties with each controlling less than half of the legislative seats would be a chance for Taiwan to “reboot,” Ko said.
Ko also talked about TPP legislator-at-large nominee Ann Kao (高虹安), who is the vice president of the Hon Hai Technology Group Industrial Big Data Office and considered to be among the so-called “Gou’s army.”
Gou had recommended a list of seven people and Kao was chosen as the most suitable nominee through internal party discussions, Ko said.
Ko said that the TPP’s candidates come from different fields, so he does not view Kao as being in Gou’s army, but as someone Gou had recommended.
He believes that “if everyone does what they should do to the utmost, the combined result would be the maximum benefit of Taiwanese society,” Ko said.
Additional reporting by CNA
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese
WARFARE: The PLA aims to use space-based capabilities to enhance its force projection to make the Indo-Pacific region too costly for the US to protect, experts said China is rapidly building space capabilities to be able to launch precision strikes on Taiwan, the US and its allies, US Space Force leaders said at a recent conference in London. China is developing counterspace warfare capabilities including GPS jamming systems and anti-satellite missiles at “breathtaking speed,” said General Stephen Whiting, commander of the US Space Command. In the past six years, Beijing tripled its number of dedicated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites, while rapidly fielding dual-use satellites, Whiting said, adding that the capabilities are honed for detecting movements at sea. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might have already achieved substantial benefits