The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will pick three candidates for commissioner and mayoral elections in Hsinchu County, Miaoli County and Keelung next month, while leaving open the option of cooperating with other parties, a DPP official said yesterday.
According to DPP spokesman Chen Wen-tsan (
Yang was the assistant to senior presidential adviser and former Hakka council chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (
Yang is also a Hakka, and has a good reputation in the county.
But Cheng said the DPP is evaluating Yang's chances in the year-end elections and still organizing Yang's campaign team.
KMT confirms
Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) confirmed that it would nominate KMT Legislator Liu Cheng-hung (
The PFP also plans to nominate its own candidate in Miaoli County.
The DPP's Cheng pointed out that the case of Miaoli County showed that the pan-blue camp is having trouble cooperating and will lack unity in the year-end elections.
In light of this situation, there is no need for the DPP to announce its final candidate too soon, Cheng said.
Cooperation possible
In the Hsinchu County commissioner race, the DPP plans to nominate either Taiwan Provincial Governor Lin Kuang-hua (林光華) or DPP Legislator Peng Shao-chin (彭紹瑾), but the party has not excluded the possibility of cooperating with the PFP.
Some DPP members have suggested that the party should work with the PFP to get KMT Legislator Chiu Ching-chun (
Chiu is challenging fellow KMT member and Hsinchu County Commissioner Cheng Yung-chin (
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,