The Green Party Taiwan (GPT) yesterday rebutted a report by a local TV station that said the party would team up with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for the upcoming legislative by-election in Taipei City.
The by-election, scheduled for March 28, will be held to fill the post left vacant by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Diane Lee (李慶安), who resigned from the seat last month over a dual-citizenship controversy.
“TVBS said on [Wednesday’s] morning news that as the DPP has little chance of winning the by-election, it would use a ‘surprise strategy’ by naming a Caucasian candidate [Robin Winkler, a naturalized Taiwanese who gave up his US citizenship in 2003]” GPT secretary-general Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) told the Taipei Times.
Pan said politicking may have been behind the false report.
Winkler on Monday announced his bid for nomination as the party’s candidate for the legislative seat. The party has three potential candidates — Winkler, GPT founding member Chang Shu-mei (張淑玫) and himself — Pan said, adding that party members had yet to decide which candidate would be named to represent the party.
Winkler said that TVBS on Monday sent a reporter to party headquarters and interviewed him for an hour and a half, asking him about his background and why he had given up his US citizenship.
“So they are very aware that I represent the GPT and have been in GPT for more than three years, yet the station still said that the DPP is naming a foreigner candidate,” he said
While saying that the party had no immediate plan to team up with other political parties, Pan said yesterday that the GPT did not rule out collaborating with other political parties — including the KMT — if the latter proposed policies that dovetailed with those of the GPT.
Meanwhile, KMT Taipei City Councilor Ouyang Lung (歐陽龍) yesterday announced his withdrawal from the party’s primary for the legislative by-election, meaning that the race now involves six members.
Five KMT Taipei City councilors from Daan (大安) and Wenshan (文山) districts, including Chiang Nai-shin (蔣乃辛), Ching Li-fang (秦儷舫), Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元), Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) and Lee Shin (李新), as well as KMT Taipei branch deputy-director Lu Li-li (呂麗莉), will join the primary on Sunday.
The KMT will conduct opinion polls tomorrow and on Saturday, and hold a vote on Sunday. The final result will be determined by a combination of the polls and the vote, with the poll results accounting for 70 percent and the vote accounting for 30 percent.
Ouyang, who had topped the polls during the primary for the Taipei city councilor election, said he was endorsing Chiang, a veteran councilor in the election districts.
“I think the pan-blue camp should select a candidate who can represent the party’s spirit. Councilor Chiang has been a model councilor and I believe he would be a great legislator,” he said at the Taipei City Council.
Chiang was recommended by the party’s Taipei City Council caucus and is seen as having a good chance of winning the primary.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS