Two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators who did not perform well in Sunday's legislative primary vote withdrew yesterday from the party's legislative primary, a sign of the declining fortunes of the once-influential New Tide faction.
Former Legislator Lin Cho-shui (
Some 60,000 DPP grassroots supporters had earlier launched a campaign to prevent 11 "DPP bandits" -- many of whom were affiliated with the faction -- from becoming legislative nominees because of their outspokenness against the party.
DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), among the 11 blacklisted politicians, although she was not a member of the faction, lost to DPP Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅), by a margin of 33.87 percent in the first district of Taipei.
Hsiao said the boycott had influenced her campaign performance, adding that the sobriquet "Chinese Khim (中國琴)" had managed to "discredit" her.
"If [they] would like to discredit the New Tide faction as a `Chinese faction' and call me `Chinese Khim' because of my cooperation with the faction, shouldn't they also call President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) `Chinese Bian (中國扁)' because his trusted aide Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) also belongs to the faction?" she asked.
DPP Legislator Lin Su-shan (
Shen told a press conference he would immediately stop his campaign activity and throw his full support behind rival DPP Legislator Chen Tsiao-Long (陳朝龍).
Shen was competing against Chen in the 12th legislative district of Taipei, but only garnered 567 votes, or 32.72 percent of the votes in the district, losing to Chen, who received 1,166 votes.
Under the DPP system, the party member vote counts for 30 percent of a would-be candidate's "score," while a public poll accounts for the remaining 70 percent. Consequently, Shen could only win the election if he beat Chen in the public opinion poll by a margin of at least 15 percent.
The poll will be held between Friday and June 17.
Shen said he was "deeply moved" after learning that Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) had decided to opt out of the party's presidential primaryfor the sake of DPP unity.
Shen said he accepted the result of the vote, adding he would not have been able to prepare for the primary since his father recently passed away.
"I am worried, however, about the consequences of the infighting that occurred during the primary," he said.
"Although grassroots supporters have blamed the New Tide faction and reformists, they should not deny the devotion of this group to Taiwanese democracy," said Shen.
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
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