Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday congratulated former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on her election as KMT chairwoman, saying he had already begun discussing opportunities for deeper cooperation between the opposition parties.
Cheng on Saturday defeated five other candidates, including her main competitor, two-time Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌). She is set to begin her four year term on Saturday next week, when she succeeds Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫).
Speaking to reporters at an event in New Taipei City, Huang said he had called Cheng and the other KMT contenders after the election results were announced, and had wished her luck in her new role.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
“As far as the TPP is concerned, [Taiwanese] society has been torn apart by President William Lai (賴清德),” Huang said. “We need to end the division and conflict.”
“The TPP is willing to work with maximum sincerity and goodwill to create a unity government, even if we do not always agree with or even like our partners,” he said.
Huang said that he spoke with former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Saturday night regarding the steps and timeframe for achieving a unity government.
Any such union would be based on shared values rather than just divvying up spots in government, Huang added.
An alliance between the two opposition parties was first floated in 2023 in the run-up to last year’s presidential election, when the TPP and KMT presidential candidates — Ko and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) — came under pressure to run on a joint ticket. Negotiations ultimately fell apart less than two months before the election, as neither candidate was willing to take the vice presidential slot.
However, the results of the election on Jan. 13 last year suggested that a joint ticket might have been successful, as Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won with 40.05 percent of the vote, followed by Hou with 33.49 percent and Ko with 26.46 percent.
Despite that failure, the KMT and TPP have joined forces in the legislature, where they hold a combined majority of the 113 seats.
Many of the candidates in the KMT leadership election, including Cheng, have said they support deepening ties between the opposition parties.
Regarding such cooperation in next year’s local elections, Huang on Saturday told reporters that that Cheng’s previous criticism of Ko and her insistence that the KMT must continue to hold the mayoral seat in New Taipei City would not present any obstacles to the TPP and KMT joining forces.
“For a mature politician, there is nothing that you cannot let go of for the sake of Taiwan and its people,” said Huang, who in August indicated that he plans to run for New Taipei City mayor next year.
“We turned the page on that [criticism of Ko] long ago,” he said.
In his remarks, Huang twice referenced coalition talks in Japan’s government by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, saying it was a “mature expression of democracy.”
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
RSS