Heavy metal band Chthonic lead vocalist and New Power Party founder Freddy Lim (林昶佐) yesterday announced that he would join the legislative race for Taipei City’s Wanhua (萬華) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts, just a few days after bowing out of the competition for the Daan District (大安) seat.
“There is no need to be confused; we have to bravely defend our homeland — Taiwan — on the battlefield,” Lim told a news conference in front of Longshan Temple (龍山寺) in Wanhua. “My name is Freddy Lim; I have firmly decided that I will run for a legislative seat representing Wanhua and Zhongzheng districts.”
Lim announced last month that he would run for the Daan and Wenshan (文山) district seat, as he was born and raised in Daan.
Photo: Min Wei, Taipei Times
However, after Fan Yun (范雲) of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) also announced her candidacy in the same constituency on Monday, Lim decided to yield, saying he would continue his legislative campaign in another constituency.
Explaining his decision, Lim said that, rather than focusing on his own victory, he is more concerned with how the “progressive force” may be maximized.
“The place where my capacity to fight could be maximized, more energy could be gathered and the progressive force may win is my battlefield,” Lim said.
“I believe I am a candidate who has a bigger chance of winning in this particular constituency,” he said.
Asked to comment on rumors that the SPD might also nominate a candidate for the electoral district, Lim said that he has been in close touch with the SPD and the two parties are on good terms.
He said he does not believe the SPD would nominate a candidate wherever he decides to run, and the party had told him in private that it has no plan to do so.
“If another party were to follow wherever I go, I think everyone would feel weird about it,” Lim said. “I do not think this would happen, unless they are drunk.”
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by