The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said it was cautiously optimistic about the Greater Taichung mayoral election in November, with the party’s candidate, DPP Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), leading incumbent Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) by almost 20 percentage points in the party’s latest survey.
“In a poll conducted by the DPP three days ago, Lin enjoyed a comfortable lead of 48 percent to Hu’s 29 percent. Moreover, 45.3 percent of respondents favored Lin as the winner, with only 29.6 percent picking Hu, who is seeking re-election,” DPP spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said.
With Lin consistently leading in a series of public opinion polls, the DPP is hopeful of victory in Greater Taichung — a key constituency that DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has called a “must-win” and a barometer of the party’s success in the seven-in-one elections.
Tsai has said the DPP is targeting wins in at least nine of the 22 mayoral and commissioner races.
In Changhua County, the DPP visited former county commissioner Huang Shih-cheng (黃石城), father of independent hopeful Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲), to explore a possible collaboration, the spokesperson said.
Whether Huang Wen-ling, a former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator, agrees to a cooperation, the DPP has confidence in its own candidate, DPP Legislator Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷), Hsu said.
At a campaign strategy committee meeting yesterday, participants discussed the five remaining constituencies where the party has yet to announce candidates. They are Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County, Hualien County, Kinmen County and Lienchiang County.
The committee will make a final decision on whether to nominate candidates in Kinmen, Lienchiang and Hualien counties — arguably the party’s weakest constituencies — and in the predominantly Hakka constituency of Hsinchu County, as well as Hsinchu City at a committee meeting next week.
Hsu confirmed that former Hsinchu mayor Tsai Jen-chien (蔡仁堅) is interested in running for mayor again.
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
RSS