Former premier Yu Shyi-kun, a former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman, announced yesterday that he will enter the race for mayor of New Taipei City (新北市), the nation’s largest municipality by population.
“If the party supports me, I am willing to fight the battle in its name,” Yu said in an informal meeting with the media in Taipei to announce his bid.
Asked whether he was too old at 65 to run for the job, Yu said he has climbed 24 mountains around Taiwan over the past five years.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
“You can see I am physically fit enough,” he said.
Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) is also 65 and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was 73 when he ran for the presidency in 1996, Yu said.
Yu is the second DPP politician, following former legislator Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢), to announce a bid for the New Taipei race. The two will likely face more rivals from within the party.
Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), head of the DPP’s New Taipei headquarters, said he has been thinking about whether to join the race.
Meanwhile, commenting on Yu’s bid, New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) said he welcomes distinguished people who care about the city to run for mayor.
Asked if he will seek a second term, Chu did not respond.
There have been media reports saying that Chu, 52, who previously served as vice premier, wants to run for the post of Taipei mayor, or the presidency. Chu is considered a star of his generation in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
The seven-in-one municipal elections are scheduled for December next year.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas,” the US military said yesterday, as tensions between China and Taiwan raise concerns in Washington. US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defense identification zone near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). The US military said the carrier strike group was in the South China Sea, a large part of which
STRATEGIC MISTAKE: Beijing’s deployment of aircraft near Taiwan proves the ‘China threat theory’ that sees it attempting to destabilize the region, an analyst said China on Saturday and yesterday sent a record number of military aircraft into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in what analysts said was an attempt to flex its military might for US President Joe Biden. Thirteen Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ on Saturday and 15 entered yesterday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. On Saturday, eight Xian H-6K bombers, four Shenyang J-16 fighters and a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, entered the ADIZ, while yesterday there were two Y-8s, two Su-30s, four J-16s, six J-10 fighters and a Y-8 reconnaissance
DISPOSING MYTHS: A new constitution would better reflect reality, as the current one was drafted ‘in and for China,’ without the consent of Taiwanese, advocates said Independence advocates yesterday launched the Taiwan New Constitution Alliance to promote drafting a new, localized constitution. “This is a historic moment for Taiwan. Drafting a new constitution is the most important task Taiwanese face,” veteran independence advocate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said at the inaugural event in Taipei. “Although the Democratic Progressive Party is in power, its authority is based on the Republic of China [ROC] Constitution, which has no connection to Taiwan,” said the 95-year-old Koo, a former presidential adviser. “The historic task of drafting a new constitution depends on efforts by all Taiwanese,” Koo said. “A constitution for a sovereign, independent Taiwan
RSS