Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said he may meet with National Taiwan University physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) as early as next week to discuss Ko’s strained relationship with the party.
Ko, an independent who has been leading all pan-green camp aspirants in the DPP primary for Taipei mayor in public approval ratings, has been mulling whether to join the party.
Several DPP aspirants, in particular former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), have vehemently opposed Ko’s inclusion in the party primary as a non-DPP member, saying that the move would counter party consolidation.
Although Ko’s supporters say that he can run as an independent if the party does not nominate a candidate for the Taipei race, slated to be held on Dec. 6 next year, Su appeared to have eliminated that scenario yesterday.
“The DPP has fielded a candidate in every Taipei mayoral election, as every political party should do,” he said.
The chairman’s comment implied that the DPP would definitely nominate a candidate for the mayoral contest, so if Ko does not join the party, there will be two pan-green camp candidates in the race.
On Monday, lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who is trying to win the four-way race to secure the party’s nod, unveiled his campaign theme: “Good Taipei+,” at a press conference attended by eight of the DPP’s 22 Taipei City councilors to show their support.
RISK FACTORS: ‘We hope people can cooperate and endure it ... it is possibly the very important last mile,’ Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said Taiwan’s COVID-19 restrictions and mask regulations are to remain the same next month, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The center reported 42,112 new local COVID-19 cases and 85 deaths, saying that the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has dropped to a new low this month. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said that the center is keeping COVID-19 restrictions and mask regulations the same due to the local virus situation, and an increase in the number of imported cases of the new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 of SARS-CoV-2, among other risk factors. Easing
TRAVEL CONFERENCE: Representatives from the two countries exchanged views on how to increase tourist numbers, with one identifying individual travel as a trend Taiwan and South Korea aim to increase the number of tourists traveling between the two countries to 3 million, government and tourism industry representatives said at a conference in Hsinchu City yesterday. The annual event was attended by Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Yen-po (陳彥伯); Tourism Bureau Director-General Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰); Taiwan Visitors Association chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭); South Korean Representative to Taiwan Chung Byung-won; Yoon Ji-sook, an official at the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; and Korea Association of Travel Agents chairman Oh Chang-hee. Global tourism is expected to soon rebound to between 55 and
The Taichung District Court yesterday sentenced to nine years in prison an unlicensed judo coach who caused the death of a seven-year-old student after slamming him onto the ground more than a dozen times. In its decision against the coach, a man surnamed Ho (何), the court cited his lack of remorse for using excessive force against an inadequately trained child and his failure to reconcile with the parents for his role in their son’s death. Speaking on behalf of the boy’s mother, Taichung City Councilor Jacky Chen (陳清龍) said the family would appeal to a higher court. Prosecutors said that Ho on
DAMAGE CONTROL: The KMT in a statement called the Taiwan Strait ‘international waters,’ after Alexander Huang said China had the right to claim it as internal waters Lawmakers and experts yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) envoy to the US Alexander Huang (黃介正) of acting as China’s stooge, after he said that Beijing has the right to claim waters beyond its maritime territory as its exclusive economic zone and that the US has no legal basis to assert that the Taiwan Strait is an “international waterway.” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said in an online post that most of the world considers the Strait an international waterway, adding that this is important for safeguarding Taiwan. “We have seen US warships transiting through the Taiwan Strait.