Surrounded by supporters and party stalwarts, former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday officially declared his intention to run in the year-end election for Taipei City mayor.
“If Taipei City residents want change, the DPP has a responsibility to nominate good candidates to provide them with choices. If the party needs me, I will welcome this great challenge,” he said at Dalongdong Baoan Temple.
The announcement comes after weeks of media speculation that Su would seek the DPP’s nomination to run in either Taipei or Sinbei City — as Taipei County will be known after it is upgraded to a special municipality.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
DPP officials said Su informed DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of his decision in a meeting on Tuesday at the party’s headquarters.
The 62-year-old Su, who has previously served as county commissioner in Taipei and Pingtung, is considered to be the party’s front-runner in the special municipal elections scheduled for December and the presidential election in 2012.
He promised, however, that if elected mayor, he would not consider running for president and would serve out the entire four-year term, which expires in late 2014.
“Every election to me is sacred and when I do choose to run, I will make sure I run to win. And if I win, I will make sure that I do a good job, which will require me to serve out my term and not run for president in 2012,” Su said.
Su said he would work on improving the livelihood of Taipei residents and giving them a voice in government.
“The DPP should return to its roots, return to the people ... and humbly listen to their needs,” he said.
News of the announcement was warmly welcomed in the party’s headquarters, with DPP officials saying Su could improve the party’s overall showing during the December elections.
“Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen recognizes Su’s past achievements and fully supports his bid,” DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said. “Su has always been part of the DPP overall policy for winning the year-end elections.”
Speaking after a party committee meeting yesterday, Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), who is seeking the party’s nomination in the soon-to-be merged Kaohsiung City and County, called Su a “strong candidate,” but added that winning Taipei City would be a tough battle.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have questioned Su’s motives in running for mayor.
They have said he would only use the position as a springboard for a presidential bid in 2012.
Both President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his predecessor, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), served as Taipei mayors before moving on to the nation’s top post.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of the KMT yesterday questioned Su’s sincerity in running for mayor, saying Su would lose both the Taipei and presidential polls if he only intended to capitalize on the sympathy generated from a loss in the capital city to run for president.
Hau, seeking to secure the party’s nomination for a re-election bid, said candidates should make a fundamental promise to finish their term, but it could be too big a promise for Su to make.
“If he intends to steal two bases, he will face a double-play,” Hau said.
Hau enumerated the achievements made during his tenure, including an urbanization project and road improvement program, adding that he also pushed internationalization, commercial development and supported the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
Hau said Taiwan must sign the proposed pact with Beijing and that it would be bad for the city’s development if Su won given the DPP’s conservative cross-strait policy. Hau also asked Su to make clear his position on an ECFA.
Hau described Su as a well-matched contender and promised to do his best to engage in a “gentleman’s game.”
KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said he hoped the Taipei City election would be a “benign contest” and that he believed the KMT candidate was the best.
Asked whether Su’s decision to stand would have any impact on the KMT’s nomination process, King said the election situation was changing fast and his party’s nomination process would proceed as scheduled. King said he would soon visit those interested in the elections and hoped to finalize the nomination by the end of May.
Both the KMT and the DPP have publicly announced their goal of winning at least three of the five cities being contested. Taipei and Sinbei are seen as important political battlegrounds that could swing either way.
KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) yesterday also expressed an interest in running for Taipei mayor.
KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said the party’s nomination would focus on elevating the competitiveness of the five special municipalities, a very different strategy from the DPP’s, which he claimed had its eye solely on winning the next election.
With the DPP’s registration deadline for nominations rapidly approaching, many potential candidates have been scrambling to get their names in to a nomination team led by DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全).
Former Taipei County commissioner You Ching (尤清) said on Monday that he would be vying for the party’s nomination in Sinbei City. There is also speculation that former premiers Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Yu Shyi-kun, as well as former DPP legislator Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻), were potential candidates in the newly upgraded city.
The party is hoping it could reach a decision on party nominees through dialogue rather than resorting to internal party polls. While the party does not have a firm timeline for deciding on its candidates for Taipei, Sinbei and Taichung, the nomination list for Tainan and Kaohsiung will be finalized before May 19, Tsai Chi-chang said.
Meanwhile, Chen Shui-bian’s office said he respected Su’s decision to run for the capital city’s top job, although the former president had hoped Su would contest Sinbei City.
His secretary, Chiang Chih-ming (江志銘), said Chen Shui-bian could only give Su his blessing and concurred with Su that only when the party does not focus so much on the 2012 presidential election does it stand a better chance of winning in Taipei
City.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique