The DPP's Central Executive Com-mittee yesterday agreed to ask several of its primary candidates to represent the party again to run in the year-end legislative elections.
They included Chen Zau-nan (陳昭南) to run in the Kinmen County constituency, Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) in the Pingtung County constituency and Payen Talu (巴燕達魯) as an Aboriginal legislator for the district category of mountain areas.
Chen is currently a DPP legislator, but failed to win his candidacy as the party's legislator-at-large in its April primary elections. The race in Kinmen County, however, will be a tough one for Chen, as it has long been a KMT-dominated constituency.
Chiu, who also lost in the party's primary election while running for legislator in the southern district of Taipei City, is currently a member of the party's Central Standing Committee. She, however, would enjoy the local support from her birthplace of Pingtung, where her father Chiu Mau-nan (邱茂男) served as a former member of the Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council.
Payen Talu is currently a DPP legislator, but also failed to win his candidacy in the April election.
The party's legislative candidate in Taichung County, Kuo Chun-min (郭俊銘), who was former director of the DPP's department of organizational development, yesterday had his candidacy suspended for a violation of the Public Officials Election and Recall Law in 1995.
Kuo was convicted, given a three-month sentence last February and suspended for two years, following a libel lawsuit brought by his KMT rival Yang Wen-hsin (楊文欣) when both ran in the Taichung County councilors' election.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Yang-min (
"Therefore, they propose to modify the regulations [to allow Kuo's participation in the election] in the party's upcoming National Congress on Sept. 29," Hsu said at a press conference after the committee met yesterday afternoon, adding that "it is very likely to be approved by the National Congress."
The party also agreed to ask former Taiwan Independence Party legislator Chen Kuang-fu (
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2
PLAN: Nations would receive US$5m a year if they could advance Taiwan’s international participation, diversify supply chains away from China or counter Beijing’s influence The US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday introduced a bill that would approve US$120 million to be spent on supporting Taiwan’s international space and tackling coercion by China. The bipartisan legislation — the Taiwan Allies Fund Act — was proposed ahead of the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on May 20. The committee said in a statement that the bill “strengthens Taiwan’s global network of friends by authorizing [US]$120 million over three years for the State Department and USAID [US Agency
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has
‘DIGITAL SOLIDARITY’: Taiwan, the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are to install and operate a cable that would connect up to 100,000 people in the Pacific Islands Taiwan, the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are working together to install undersea cables as a demonstration of digital solidarity, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday. Blinken talked about the cooperation in a speech he delivered at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. He said that the US International Cyberspace and Digital Strategy launched by the US Department of State “treats digital solidarity as our North Star.” “Solidarity informs our approach not only to digital technologies, but to all key foundational technologies,” Blinken said. Under the strategy, the US is to work with international partners “to shape the design, development,