Politics

MA-XI MEETING: DPP has failed as watchdog, new alliance says

NEGLECTED DUTIES:Third-force legislative candidates have called on the DPP to step up to their role and impeach President Ma over his controversial meeting with Xi

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 10, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) legislative caucus has failed to play an effective watchdog role in response to Saturday’s meeting between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), a third-force legislative candidate said yesterday.

“While I can understand that the DPP has had a very reserved response because it’s preparing to rule, I think the people expect more than this from a prospective ruling party,” said Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance candidate Miao Bo-ya (苗博雅), condemning the DPP for “failing to take constitutionally significant” actions to oppose the meeting.

“Although individual DPP members have issued statements against the talks, they have not used their capacity as national legislators to oppose the talks and create a meaningful precedent,” she said.

Even though the DPP lacks a majority in the Legislative Yuan, there were still several actions the caucus could have taken to oppose the talks, including sponsoring a petition to the Council of Grand Justices to rule on whether the arrangement of the meeting was constitutional, she said, adding that the council would be required to give a ruling if one-third of national legislators signed the petition. [FULL STORY]

Chen Chu says Ma-Xi meeting will not influence January elections

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-09
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu assured Monday that the Ma-Xi meeting last weekend will not

Chen Chu: Ma-Xi will not influence elections. Central News Agency

have an influence on the upcoming elections in January next year.

During a question-and-answer session at the legislature in Kaohsiung, Chu stressed that the Democratic Progressive Party has taken every variable into consideration and plans to continue to follow its original strategy.

“The summit will not hinder us from achieving our goal,” Chu said.

Commenting on whether President Ma Ying-jeou’s motive behind the meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is just another attempt by Ma to “write history” to boost his own legacy, the Kaohsiung mayor said she is reluctant to answer on the president’s behalf, saying the most important strive was to maintain continued peace and stability across the strait. [FULL STORY]

Ko says cross-strait issue is president’s ‘homework’

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-09
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je pointed out Monday that the issue on cross-strait relations is an

Ko says cross-strait issue is ‘homework’ Central News Agency

important “homework” reserved exclusively for the president of the Republic of China.

Ko made the remarks in response to media queries while accompanying children from the Ying-Qiao Elementary School in Taipei on a field trip to experience a day’s labor on urban farming.

“The motive behind this educational trip is for children to appreciate the fruits of the farmer’s labor,” Ko said.

Asked whether President Ma Ying-jeou’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week would pose pressure on Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen, Ko said the question is not about putting peer pressure, but a responsibility that the R.O.C. president has to contend with during his/her time in office. [FULL STORY]

Tsai seeks to trounce the KMT in January elections

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-08
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen said she will do her

Tsai seeks to trounce the KMT in Jan. elections. Central News Agency

utmost to lead the party into victory next January, pledging to trounce the ruling Kuomintang in the 2016 elections, reports said Sunday.

Tsai’s comments came during her trip to Taichung in the morning, where she campaigned for the city’s legislative candidates Hsieh Chih-chung, Tsai Chi-chang, Ho Hsin-chun, Huang Kuo-shu, and New Power Party candidate Hung Tzu-yung.

She said the upcoming elections will be a “most important divide” between maintaining Taiwan’s free and democratic way of life and abandoning the democratic mechanism that Taiwan has worked hard for many years to build.

“Only the new opinion as reflected by the results of the elections on January 16 can dictate the future development of Taiwan’s relations with China,” Tsai said, adding that she also aims to lead the DPP into a legislative majority next year. [FULL STORY]

DPP opposes Ma speech to Legislature

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-06
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – President Ma Ying-jeou was unlikely to present a report about his

DPP opposes Ma speech to Legislature. Central News Agency

meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the Legislative Yuan after the opposition Democratic Progressive Party rejected the idea Friday.

The unprecedented cross-straits summit will take place in Singapore on Saturday afternoon, and the ruling Kuomintang had proposed inviting Ma for a rare address to the Legislative Yuan, possibly next week.

However, during negotiations between the caucuses Friday morning, the DPP expressed its opposition, saying the speech would merely amount to political manipulation and the Legislative Yuan should not allow itself to bear responsibility for Ma’s secretive organization of the summit.

DPP legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming slammed the president for failing to inform the Legislative Yuan of his summit plans beforehand, and for then wanting lawmakers to play along. [FULL STORY]

Tainan speaker not indicted

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-06
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao will not be indicted

Tainan speaker not indicted. Taiwan News

for vote-buying in the speaker election, the Tainan District Prosecutors Office said Friday, despite months of allegations and of political struggle with Mayor William Lai.

Lee had been targeted for investigations into alleged vote-buying, both in the November 29 city council elections and in the December 25 election, when newly elected councilors voted for a speaker and vice speaker.

Prosecutors said Friday there was no evidence to suggest that Lee paid council members off to vote for him in the speaker election. His victory had surprised public opinion, because he was a Kuomintang candidate facing a majority of Democratic Progressive Party councilors.

The original allegation said that he had used a former lawmaker, Lee Ho-shun, to pay at least four city councilors during their trip to Xiamen in China last December. [FULL STORY]

Negotiations on Ma report to legislature break down

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 07, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

A cross-caucus negotiation over a proposal to have President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)

Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Chou Ni-an, left, holds a poster yesterday at the legislature in Taipei to protest against the “lack of respect” President Ma Ying-jeou showed the legislature when he decided to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore today. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times

report to the legislature after he returns from his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore today broke down yesterday, with the party caucuses failing to reach a consensus on what is to be required of Ma.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus said it had proposed to have Ma present a “state of the nation address” in the legislature after he returns from Singapore.

The proposal, if sent to the Procedure Committee on Tuesday to be put on next Friday’s agenda for approval, could be passed in time for the president to report to the legislature the week after he returns, KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said.

Lai accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of faking its resolve to oversee the government if it balked at reaching a consensus for Ma to report to the legislature. [FULL STORY]

Tsai not ruling out PRC visit, under right conditions

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 06, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen, center, speaks at a press conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

yesterday said that she would not rule out visiting Beijing and meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) if she wins the Jan. 16 election.

Asked by reporters whether she would visit Beijing if invited, given the widespread public criticism of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) planned meeting with Xi in Singapore tomorrow, especially from the pan-green camp, Tsai said: “There are just over 70 days left until the election and considering the atmosphere in society, I think the possibility of my visiting Beijing is not too high, but if I am elected next year, if the conditions that I mentioned before — including openness and transparency, equality and dignity, and no politics are met — I would not rule out the possibility.”

However, Tsai took a tougher tone commenting on Ma’s press conference at the Presidential Office yesterday morning and his remark that tomorrow’s meeting would create the basis to “build a bridge” for future meetings and interactions between the leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. [FULL STORY]

Ma, Xi to split dinner bill in Singapore

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/04
By: Yin Chun-chieh and Lee Mei-yu

Taipei, Nov. 4 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will

Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel.

split the bill for their dinner in Singapore on Saturday, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister Wu Mei-hung (吳美紅) said Wednesday.

The two leaders are expected to have dinner together after their meeting in Singapore, and Ma will fly back to Taiwan immediately after dinner, according to Wu.

“It’s not about who will be whose guest at the dinner, but about having dinner together,” said Wu.

She said the two sides will also split the cost of renting the venue at Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel for the Ma-Xi meeting. [FULL STORY]

FEATURE: Su Chiao-hui hopes to expand dad’s legacy

SU TSENG-CHANG:The Democratic Progressive Party legislative candidate said her father’s reputation has been ‘a source of both pressure and motivation’

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 04, 2015
By: Chang An-chiao and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative candidate for New

Su Chiao-hui, left, daughter of former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Su Tseng-chang, attends an event in Taipei on Oct. 3. Su Chiao-hui is standing as legislative candidate for New Taipei City’s fifth electoral constituency. Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times

Taipei City’s fifth electoral constituency and the daughter of former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), says her goal is to expand the democratic legacy of her father’s generation.

New Taipei City’s fifth electoral constituency is comprised of Shulin (樹林), Yingge (鶯歌) and Sinjhuang (新莊) districts.

When asked about how she evaluates the effect of her father’s reputation on her campaign, Su Chiao-hui said it had been “a source of both pressure and motivation.”

“The standards and expectations to which I am compared are higher,” she said.

“I watched the previous generation open democracy’s gates and our generation exercises the right to free speech as naturally as we breathe air. Without them, there is no us,” she said. “I don’t see myself as replacing anyone. It is more accurate to say that I am taking on the general responsibility that has been entrusted to us.” [FULL STORY]

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