Former Chinese pro-democracy dissident Wuer Kaixi yesterday announced in a surprise move that he is dropping his bid to win a seat in the legislature through the Greater Taichung by-election, but planned to run in the 2016 legislative elections.
The by-election was made necessary after the legislative seat held by Taichung mayoral candidate Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) was vacated after Lin resigned just days before the election on Nov. 29.
He won the election and was sworn in as mayor on Thursday.
Wuer Kaixi announced his by-election bid on Dec. 1.
A leader in China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, Wuer Kaixi, 46, said in a statement on Facebook that he decided to withdraw from the by-election after discussing it with his campaign team.
He said he wanted to run because he could contribute to dealing with what he sees as the biggest challenges facing the nation — deepening democracy and cross-strait ties.
However, he felt the short campaigning time for the by-election and the short time in office he would have before the next elections if he were to win would not give him enough time to realize his goals, he said in the post.
He therefore changed his mind and decided to run for a legislative seat in the 2016 elections, which would give him a four-year term if elected, he said.
On the issue of democracy, he said he supports an expansion of civil participation that would allow civic groups to thrive.
As for cross-strait relations, he advocated facing up to problems and encouraging discussion within Taiwan, across the Strait and in the international community.
“My special background may make special contributions on the issue,” he said.
On whether voters can accept him, Wuer Kaixi said earlier this month that he has had a Taiwan ID card for 15 years and has never had doubts about being accepted.
In addition to being an exiled dissident who has been accepted by Taiwan, he is the father of two children born here, he works and pays taxes here, and he has donated blood 50 times, he said.
After the bloody crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Beijing, Wuer Kaixi went into exile in the US, where he met his Taiwanese wife, Chen Hui-ling (陳慧玲), who was studying there.
He now lives in Greater Taichung, a special municipality with eight single-seat districts.
Lin became the legislator representing the sixth district in 2012 with 96,685 votes, or 51.78 percent.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
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
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai