A petition to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) managed to garner the support of 2 percent of eligible voters in his constituency — Greater Taichung’s Nantun (南屯) and Shitun (西屯) districts — and received approval from the Central Election Commission on Monday.
The news brings Total Recall — a campaign to recall inept legislators in Greater Taichung — one step closer to launching a recall referendum with the goal of ousting Tsai.
The petition’s success followed on the heels of a landmark achievement by the Appendectomy Project — a similar campaign in Taipei with the goal of recalling KMT Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) — which launched its official Recall Headquarters in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) on Sunday.
Total Recall organizers said that Tsai Chin-lung had failed the public through his track record of backing unpopular policies, including his support for nuclear energy, his endorsement of importing agricultural products from China, and his opposition to raising the minimum wage.
To initiate a referendum on Tsai’s fate, Total Recall requires the support of 13 percent of eligible voters — or nearly 40,000 signatories — for the second phase of the petition, from Saturday to Feb. 16.
Given that the petition’s second phase is more challenging with its high threshold and 30-day limit, the campaign has ramped up recruitment efforts for volunteers among Taichung residents, a member of Total Recall surnamed Chen said.
An Appendectomy Project spokesperson known as Mr Lin from Taipei (台北林先生) said that the project would share their experiences in Taipei with their fellow activists in Taichung.
Additional reporting by Su Fang-ho
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