DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday the party would nominate its own candidate to run against popular Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in the year-end Taipei mayoral election.
"In principle, we will nominate our own person. However, we'll take a non-party member into account if he or she is genuinely a good, suitable candidate," Hsieh said.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Hsieh made the remark in response to the TSU's proposal that Annie Lee (李安妮), the youngest child of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), represent the TSU in the election.
Some TSU lawmakers proposed yesterday that the DPP jointly endorse Lee if it cannot find a suitable candidate within its ranks.
When asked whether he sees Lee as a "good" candidate, Hsieh said that "she is a good candidate, but there are many good candidates out there. ? The best candidate shouldn't be just a good one, but the best of the best."
Meanwhile, taxi drivers worried that the DPP might lose ground in the election by waiting too long to name a candidate, appealed to the party in front of DPP headquarters yesterday.
They requested that the party put Chairwoman of the Council for Hakka Affairs Yeh Chu-lan (
Chanting "knock down Ma Ying-jeou, support Yeh Chu-lan," about 20 taxi drivers parked their cabs outside the building.
The group was led by Chen Hung-jung (陳宏榮), a DPP candidate for the Taipei City council elections.
Chen presented a makeshift petition letter to Toby Kuo (
Chen said it's time for Taipei City to have a female mayor.
"She's one of the few outstanding female DPP members who has the guts to push for reforms and to take on heavy responsibilities," he said.
A volunteer rescue worker for more than 10 years, Chen said that he knows Ma firsthand and has experience with the mayor during times of crisis.
"He's a big disappointment in terms of responding to emergencies," he said.
"I've participated in the relief efforts of the 921 earthquake, Typhoon Nari and the 331 earthquake, but I've never seen him at the scene during the most critical 48 hours after the disaster."
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard