Former New Power Party (NPP) chairman Hsu Yung-ming’s (徐永明) withdrawal from the party over his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal failed to appease some young members, with two Taipei city councilors saying that they have also withdrawn from the party in protest of its handling of Hsu’s case
Hsu was on Tuesday released on bail of NT$800,000.
The party confirmed that it had received Hsu’s application to leave the party via fax at 3:50pm yesterday before its Disciplinary Committee’s scheduled meeting at 5pm.
Photo: CNA
Within an hour of the party receiving Hsu’s application, Taipei city councilors Lin Ying-meng (林穎孟) and Huang Yu-fen (黃郁芬) issued a statement, saying that they were leaving the party, too.
“As independent legislators, we would continue to oversee the Taipei City Government and residents in the city,” they said.
The two said that they joined the relatively young party and ran in local elections to reform politics in Taiwan, so that more young people’s voices could be heard.
However, the party forgot why it was formed and instead inherited many corrupt political practices, they said.
“The party management often used the news media to launch mudslinging campaigns against members with different opinions from theirs, which has already caused several legislators to leave the party,” they said.
“We have tried our best to communicate with the party’s senior management. Not only were our opinions ignored, but we were at the receiving end of unsubstantiated and fabricated allegations. The same thing happened again when the party tried to weather the crisis caused by Hsu’s alleged involvement in the corruption scandal,” they said.
The way the party handled Hsu’s case also made the public question whether it has double standards when it deals with members who contravene party regulations, they said, adding that the punishment and penalties were decided based on the people involved in the transgressions, rather than the transgressions themselves.
Acting NPP Chairman Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said that the Disciplinary Committee has moved to dismiss Hsu’s case, as he is no longer a party member, adding that it would leave investigations to the prosecutors.
In view of the incident, the party would in two weeks present a code of ethics and a plan to reform, he said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS