Politics

Soong: KMT and DPP should work together, like fire and water

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-04
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

People’s First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong urged the Kuomintang

Soong: KMT and DPP should work together. Central News Agency

and Democratic Progressive Party to work out their political differences for the better of Taiwan, reports said Sunday.

The PFP contender was at Tainan’s Guanziling over the weekend, where he visited the area’s famous Fire and Water Cave, a geological structure known for its unique natural landscape.

“Like fire within the water, and water within the fire, both parties should seek ways to work in mutual harmony,” he said.

Accompanied by former Tainan county commissioner Lee Ya-chiao of the KMT, Soong also compared metaphorically the relationship between the Taipei City government and the City Council with fire and water, in which both local entities have remained in co-existence for the development of Taiwan’s capital.

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je is expected to be invited to join the PFP at the City Council Monday morning to exchange views and opinions regarding the future developments of Taiwan’s capital city. [FULL STORY]

Tsai calls for end to speculation rife over Lai’s independence talk

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-04
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen called on the local

Tsai calls for end to speculations about Lai. Central News Agency

media to refrain from transpiring further speculations about Tainan Mayor William Lai’s support for Taiwan independence and efforts to alienate himself from the DPP, reports said Sunday.

Tsai’s response came during a visit to Taichung as part of her campaign trip over the weekend, where she was accompanied by DPP Taichung City Councilor Chen Shih-kai at a Mozi Temple in the city’s Longjing District.

Lai’s emphasis on his support for Taiwan Independence earlier this week led commentators to speculate whether he was trying to distance himself from Tsai’s advocacy of the status quo. [FULL STORY]

Majority should be green, not DPP: Free Taiwan Party

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-03
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The new majority at the Legislative Yuan after the January 16

Majority should be green, not DPP: Free Taiwan Party. Central News Agency (2015-10-03 18:20:14)

election should not be held by the Democratic Progressive Party on its own, but by several “pro-green” parties, the small Free Taiwan Party said Saturday.

DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen holds a commanding lead in the presidential election scheduled for the same day, but the party also wants to gain control of the Legislature for the first time, with or without its allies.

One of those is the newly formed Free Taiwan Party, chaired by activist professor Tsay Ting-kuei, a frequent leader of protests in favor of referendums and against KMT policies.

FTP legislative candidate Janice Chen said she had no problem with Tsai winning the presidential election and with the DPP becoming the ruling party, but at the Legislative Yuan, more diversity was needed.

Smaller pro-green parties could have a review function, taking a closer look at government decisions and proposing different solutions to problems, Chen said. If the most powerful party went off in the wrong direction, the smaller groups could point this out and use their influence to get the government back on the right track, she explained. [FULL STORY]

KMT politician demands review of Hung’s selection

DISSATISFACTION:KMT sources said “more than half” of the Central Standing Committee supported convening a provisional party congress to challenge Hung’s candidacy

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 04, 2015
By: Peng Hsien-chun and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff riter

KMT Central Standing Committee member Chiang Shuo-ping (江碩平) yesterday

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu, center, shakes hands with supporters at an event in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

demanded a provisional party congress be held to review whether the party’s presidential candidate, Hung Shiu-chu (洪秀柱), should be replaced, dealing a severe blow to Hung’s campaign and further fueling rumors of division within the party over Hung’s candidacy.

KMT sources were yesterday cited by a TVBS report as saying that the most recent poll conducted by the KMT indicated that Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating had soared to a record level of 45 percent, while Hung’s rating had plummeted to 13 percent.

Anonymous party members said Hung’s support rating was critically low and might severely damage the KMT’s standing in next year’s legislative elections.

Chiang yesterday said he planned to propose that the party hold a provisional party congress at a Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday. [FULL STORY]

Hung cites Constitution on unification

ULTIMATE GOAL:The KMT presidential candidate warned of the consequences of advocating independence, while arguing that unification is the only way for Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 03, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu speaks to reporters before she takes part in a legislative session in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

said that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution calls for “ultimate unification with China,” following Tainan Mayor William Lai’s (賴清德) comment on Wednesday that he supports Taiwanese independence.

The Constitution mandates unification with China, Hung said, adding that the “Guidelines for National Unification” — which had been the nation’s main guiding policy on cross-strait affairs until then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 2006 declared that they “ceased to apply” — have short, medium and long-term goals.

“At the end of the road, it is unification, be it in 50 years or 100 years,” Hung said.

“However, it should be our initiative to unify [China], rather than being annexed by someone else,” the deputy legislative speaker said. [FULL STORY]

Political donations from nine-in-one polls under probe

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 29, 2015
By: Lee Hsin-fang and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Dozens of candidates in last year’s nine-in-one elections are suspected of violating the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法), the Control Yuan said.

The historical Nov. 29 elections were the largest local government polls in the nation’s history, so-named because they elected officials and representatives in nine administrative categories, from county commissioners and special municipality mayors to city councilors and borough wardens.

Control Yuan division director Lin Hui-mei (林惠美) said that preliminary audits revealed that many might have violated Article 7 of the Political Donations Act.

Lin said that Article 7 stipulates that candidates are forbidden from taking donations from “profit-seeking businesses in accumulative deficit not made up according to relevant provisions,” “public enterprises or the civil enterprises in which the government holds not less than 20 percent of the capital,” and “manufacturers that have signed a government procurement contract of a large amount or an investment contract of important public construction and are performing the contract.” [FULL STORY]

Tsai’s ‘Ing Faction’ nothing but a power game

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-24
By: Wang Kun-yi

Tsai Ing-wen, leader and presidential candidate of Taiwan’s opposition Democratic

Tsai Ing-wen’s new book The Ing Faction–Lighting Up Taiwan’s Last Mile. (Photo/CNA)

Progressive Party, is set to release new book titled The Ing Faction–Lighting Up Taiwan’s Last Mile in October. The book explores her political ideas, which are mainly adopted from German sociologist Max Weber’s views.

However, Tsai avoids the part concerning rationalization, which is the basis of Weber’s political thought. Without rationalization, the “Ing Faction” can in the end be nothing but a game of political power.

The ideas Tsai expresses in her new book are the goals that everyone in Taiwan seeks in the democratic ear. The ruling Kuomintang camp tends to use the term “populism” rather than democracy when the public espouses a view it doesn’t like, or smears the term “democracy” with the term “cultural revolution.”

Defining what the “Ing Faction” is, Tsai said it is not a “political faction or party” but rather those she has seen, felt and touched over the years in this land who are “steadfast and courageous enough to dream.” [FULL STORY]

Tsai: the Diaoyutai Islands belong to Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-09-23
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen pointed out to a group

Tsai: the Diaoyutai Islands belong to Taiwan. Central News Agency

of reporters Wednesday that “the Diaoyutai Islands belong to Taiwan.”

Tsai’s comments came as she plans to visit Japan next month, reports said.

“Our stance is clear. We will say the same thing wherever we go, no question about it,” she affirmed.

According to DPP spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng, Tsai made the initiative as Taiwanese expatriates living in Japan have repeatedly called for a visit by the chairperson.

She will make the visit starting on October 6, where plans to meet with Diet members in Tokyo and also visit Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan, to have a look at the regional economy. [FULL STORY]

New Hampshire Man Recalls Taiwan Fire: It Was Instantaneous

ABC News
Date: Sep 22, 2015
By: kathy mccormack, associated press

A New Hampshire man recovering at home from serious burns suffered in a water park explosion in Taiwan says support from his family and friends have kept him going as he thinks about that June day the flammable powder blew up over a stage.

“It was so instantaneous,” Alex Haas said Tuesday. “It was just like flipping a light switch. You could see outlines of people in the fire, but it was, ‘Run as fast you can. Get out.’ That’s what I did.”

Haas, 27, said a group called Color Play Asia had rented out part of the park for a party on June 27 and he was standing in an empty swimming pool near the stage at the time the powder was released. [FULL STORY]

Soong: ludicrous to think U.S., Japan would ever defend Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-09-20
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Speaking on Japan’s passage of its security bills at the upper house of parliament,

Soong: U.S., Japan will not fight for Taiwan. Central News Agency

People’s First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong said it’s ludicrous to think that the United States and Japan would ever fight for Taiwan in case of war, reports said Sunday.

Soong’s comments came after Japan’s controversial security bills that will allow the country’s troops to fight overseas for the first time since the Second World War, despite widespread voter opposition and mass protests in central Tokyo on Friday.

The PFP chairman was with former speaker of the Taiwan Provincial Assembly Liu Ping-wei when asked about the government’s hope to forge ties with the U.S.-Japan Security Alliance, where the two political veterans met in Taipei on Sunday to exchange opinions and views on the upcoming January 16 elections.

“Every country has its own defense considerations. Should Japan choose to fight overseas, it’s just a way of showing their military prowess, and it has nothing to do with us,” Soong said, adding that in an event of war involving Taiwan, the island is on its own. [FULL STORY]

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