Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday denied reports that he was planning to join the Taipei mayoral race next year and was trying to persuade former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) to drop her bid to represent the party in the election.
The remarks came in response to a column posted by political commentator Wu Tsu-chia (吳子嘉) on the my-formosa.com online news Web site yesterday which alleged that Su had decided to enter the election and had sent DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) to dissuade Lu from running in the party’s primary.
Wu said that while Su would like lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to represent the party in the Taipei mayoral race, Lu has been leading Koo in the polls, forcing Su to enter the race himself.
Having Lu and former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) as candidates in the mayoral elections in Taipei and New Taipei City (新北市) respectively could derail Su’s campaign for re-election as party chairman in May next year, Wu added.
However, Koo and Lu are not the only aspirants Su has to worry about, as a majority of public opinion polls show that Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), director of National Taiwan University’s department of traumatology who is planning to run as an independent, has been leading all the pan-green camp aspirants.
Some pro-independence supporters have urged the DPP to include Ko in its party primary, so that the pan-green camp can have the best candidate run against the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) representative.
Lu has rejected the idea, saying Ko cannot be included because he is not a DPP member.
Ko yesterday said he agreed that the pan-green camp should settle on one candidate to have a better chance at winning.
If the DPP refuses to include him in the primary process, his support rate will likely be the deciding factor for his campaign, Ko said.
“If my support rate is not good enough to beat other aspirants, I would consider dropping out of the race,” Ko said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it