Three-term Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) yesterday said he would not seek re-election, citing the results of the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 29 last year in Keelung.
“Since the KMT lost last year’s mayoral campaign, as someone who took on a heavy role in campaigning, I should not only humbly listen to the choice of city residents, but should also take appropriate responsibility and make good my promise,” Hsieh wrote in a Facebook post, referring to his promise not to seek re-election if KMT mayoral candidate Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) lost.
Hsieh Kuo-liang said he would continue to help the KMT’s Keelung branch as a volunteer, leaving open the possibility for a campaign role in the next legislative election in January next year.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) beat Hsieh Li-kung in the city, which had long been viewed as a KMT stronghold.
However, a corruption scandal that led to a split in the KMT camp, former Keelung city council speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰) ran as an independent candidate after he was detained on suspicion of violating the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Lin won the mayor’s race with an increase of 10 percentage points over his previous campaign in 2012, when he ran against Hsieh Kuo-liang for Keelung’s single legislative seat.
Hsieh Kuo-liang’s announcement signals the end to a 10-year legislative career that saw him serve as the KMT caucus whip as well as cochairman of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
Hsieh, who holds a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and renounced his US citizenship to serve as a legislator, is the scion of a prominent Keelung political family.
The family also owns a number of businesses and schools such as the Sangong Group, the Second Credit Cooperative of Keelung and the Keelung Er Xin High School.
When he was first elected in 2004 on the People’s First Party’s (PFP) ticket, he became the youngest member of the legislature. He switched allegiance to the KMT in 2006.
DPP Keelung branch chairman Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) yesterday said that he will campaign for the party’s nomination for the seat. Lawyer Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) announced her own candidacy for the nomination earlier this month.
Rumored pan-blue candidates include Hsieh Li-kung, KMT Legislator Hsu Shao-ping’s (徐少萍) son, Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥), and KMT Keelung City Councilor Han Liang-chi (韓良圻), as well as Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) of the PFP, who represented the city in the Legislative Yuan for three consecutive terms.
Additional reporting by Yu Chao-fu
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS