Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), who had been staying out of the limelight, came forward yesterday to endorse the party's Taipei and Kaohsiung candidates.
Although he withdrew from the DPP earlier this year, Lin said that the party remains the best choice and most progressive political party in the country.
"I step forward and endorse Hsieh because I affirm and recognize his efforts as former Kaohsiung mayor and premier," Lin said, while accompanying Hsieh at a campaign event yesterday in Shilin District.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, AP
Lin, one of his party's most respected elders, said he has been friends with Hsieh and the DPP's Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chu (
He said he "would extend a hand to express solidarity."
Lin will also campaign for Chen Chu in Kaohsiung, starting today.
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen Chu campaign chief executive officer Chen Chi-mai (
"There are not many things that can touch people's heart now given recent political upheaval, but Lin's support for Hsieh will definitely touch many people's heart," former DPP legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) said.
Fearing pan-green voters may be lukewarm about casting ballots in Saturday's elections because of recent political scandals, the DPP yesterday urged supporters to vote for its mayoral candidates.
DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and Central Standing Committee mem-bers also reached a resolution in yesterday's meeting that the party would start a telephone campaign to its supporters in a bid to encourage them to vote.
Yu said he would resign as chairman if the party "fails" in the elections.
Several members of the party's former New Tide faction yesterday also urged independent voters to support the DPP's Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral candidates.
Former DPP legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) told a press conference that they would like to remind Taiwan's rational citizens that only when citizens continue participating in elections and politics can the nation's democracy develop in the right direction.
"It is citizens' unshirkable responsibility to care about public affairs and cast the vote after careful thinking," he said. "It is citizens who will ultimately suffer if they try to punish [politicians or parties] by refusing to cast ballots."
He said recent opinion polls had shown that people were very dissatisfied with political parties and leaders, which should be a warning to the nation.
Lee said that he believed Hsieh and Chen are models for other politicians because they insist on DPP's core values and stand for reform and progress.
"They should not be defeated in the elections only because negative campaigning reigned during the elections and rational citizens were discouraged from casting their votes," Lee said. "This would be a pity and unfair."
"It will be a good thing for the DPP if good and right people are elected," he said.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by