Taiwan Today

On the cusp of a major cross-strait conference in mainland China, word comes that the Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen will propose to the Central Executive Committee July 8 a ban on party officials and party members serving in the government from attending the meeting. Participating in the conference, titled “Forum between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party,” is “an inappropriate and unwise move,” according to DPP Acting Spokesman Chuang Sui-hang. Tsai has been strongly opposed to DPP members attending the forum, amidst reports that more than 10 DPP members will attend the conference, in spite of calls from party leaders asking them to refrain from going. In response to such reports, Hsu Jung-shu, a former legislator with the DPP who has said she will attend the forum, shot back, criticizing her party’s new regulations as “backwards.” The DPP sees the trees but ignores the forest, she said, calling the proposed policy “ignorant.” She will not be deterred from going, Hsu insisted. Chuang said that the forum not only goes against democratic principles, it also has no oversight from the opposition party. Such a forum has no merit, and is against the interests of Taiwan, he said, adding that the DPP has repeatedly condemned the forum. Chuang also noted that Hsu has gradually become less political over the last few years. Her trip is a “personal matter, having to do with her own business interests, and nothing to do with the DPP,” Chuang said. As to Fan Cheng-tzung, a DPP member and a former magistrate of Hsinchu County, who has also indicated he will attend the conference, Chuang said Fan has been suspended by the DPP of his party membership rights, and thus he cannot be considered a member within the DPP camp. If Fan and Hsu insist on going, Chuang said, and if their words and actions while they are in China go against DPP rules and regulations, they will be dealt with by the party’s Central Review Committee upon their return. Hsu responded that when she was a member of the DPP’s Central Standing Committee, she was free to visit China as she pleased. She could have not foreseen that the DPP would become less progressive as time went on, she said. The DPP is called the Democratic Progressive Party, Hsu noted, meaning it should encourage freedom of thought and expression. It is not necessary to put restrictions on details that are insignificant. As to whether people will fall victim to the “unification tactics” of the mainland, she said everyone should have the intelligence to judge by themselves. (HZW)