The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is scheduled to finalize the nomination of its legislative candidates tomorrow as the registration process is set to begin on Friday, the party's Culture and Information Department Director Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) said yesterday.
The registration for January's legislative elections opens on Friday and closes on Nov. 21.
Independence activists yesterday urged the DPP to nominate Chen Tseng-chih (
As a DPP member for 14 years, Chen said it was a pity the DPP had not nominated anyone in that district and that she would like to give the electorate another choice aside from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Lo Ming-tsai (
Chinese dissident Ruan Ming (
With the adoption of a new electoral system for the legislative poll, Ruan said that the public wanted to see new blood in the legislature.
"I call on President Chen Shui-bian (
"Taiwan needs change and Chen Tseng-chih is the power of change representing Hakka women and the media," he said.
While the DPP seeks to lure former KMT Legislator Lee Sen-zong (李顯榮) and legislators who have been expelled from the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) to join the legislative election, Ruan said he did not understand why the DPP did not recruit Chen Tseng-chih.
Lee lost the KMT nomination in Taipei County's first district to fellow legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇). Lee protested his party's failure to pursue localization and burned his party membership card to show his determination to run in the January poll.
Lee yesterday declined to confirm whether he would join the DPP and dismissed Wu's allegation that he left after losing the party's nomination and would join the DPP.
The DPP also wants to recruit TSU legislators Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙) and Huang Chung-yung (黃宗源), who were expelled for being "uncooperative" and "failing to toe the party line." The TSU has followed up by revoking the candidacies of legislators Yin Ling-ying (尹伶瑛) and David Huang (黃適卓).
Meanwhile, Yin yesterday asked her DPP rival, Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國), to let opinion polls decide who should represent the pan-green camp in next year's election.
Yin had said she would run as a DPP candidate in Yunlin County's second constituency if she won in the opinion polls.
If she lost, she said she would be glad to serve as Liu's campaign chief.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
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