The New Power Party (NPP) staged a mass rally last night, spotlighting legislative candidates’ families as the electoral campaign entered its final week.
More than 1,000 mostly young people gathered along Jinan Road next to the Legislative Yuan Building in Taipei, with most members squatting along the pavement in a manner reminiscent of the 2014 Sunflower movement, which saw massive crowds surround the building in support of student activists who occupied the legislature’s main chamber to protest the government’s handling of a trade in services agreement with China.
The NPP, whose membership and leadership include numerous social activists, has sought to portray itself as the standard bearer for the movement in the upcoming legislative elections.
A skit on the “NPP’s story” made liberal use of the movement’s symbols, with youth another key theme of the rally’s performances, which included “Young Dream” and “Dancing Youth.”
Posts with the names of the party’s legislator-at-large candidates on them lined the road, while several large statues of progressively younger adults and children occupied the middle.
The party’s logo reflected off the stomach of a large statue of a pregnant woman that occupied the main stage at the street’s end. Candidates were introduced between performances.
The mother of Taichung district candidate Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) said she initially opposed Hung’s candidacy because of concern for her daughter’s well-being, only agreeing after realizing her candidacy was necessary to address systemic problems similar to those that led the death of her brother, army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘).
Hung rose to prominence during demonstrations for reform in the military justice system, which followed her brother’s death from abuse during military service.
Hsinchu City legislative district candidate Chiu Hsien-chih’s (邱顯智) wife, Huang Wan-ting (黃琬婷), talked about her support for Chiu in taking on numerous pro bono cases for social activists, including prominent Sunflower students, while Doris Yeh (葉湘怡), the wife of legislative candidate Freddy Lim (林昶佐) in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), said Lim’s candidacy was a natural extension of the political ideas contained in the music created by their metal band, Chthonic.
Candidates’ speeches focused on the need for reform and social justice, while taking shots at the governing Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
“KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) has the nerve to say that any man who has hair longer than a woman is mentally abnormal,” said Lim, who sports a long pony tail. “We have to work hard because we don’t just want progressive forces to gain a majority, we want to marginalize an already fossilized KMT.”
Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) and director Wu Nien-Jen (吳念真) were also slated to address the crowd at the rally.
Meanwhile, the competing “third force” Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance is scheduled to host its own campaign rally at the intersection of Taipei’s Dunhua and Anhe roads today.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
BACK TO WORK? Prosecutors said they are considering filing an appeal, while the Hsinchu City Government said it has applied for Ann Kao’s reinstatement as mayor The High Court yesterday found suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) not guilty of embezzling assistant fees, reducing her sentence to six months in prison commutable to a fine from seven years and four months. The verdict acquitted Kao of the corruption charge, but found her guilty of causing a public official to commit document forgery. The High Prosecutors’ Office said it is reviewing the ruling and considering whether to file an appeal. The Taipei District Court in July last year sentenced Kao to seven years and four months in prison, along with a four-year deprivation of civil rights, for contravening the Anti-Corruption
RSS