Former Council of Indigenous Peoples minister Walis Pelin, a member of the Sediq people, on Friday announced his decision to run for legislator on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ticket.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) joined Walis Pelin in his home village of Sdringan in Nantou County as he accepted the DPP’s nomination to contend for one of the three seats that represent the mountains Aborigines.
The veteran politician, who served as minister from 2005 to 2007, failed in a 2012 legislative bid on the People First Party ticket.
Before his term as minister, Walis Pelin served four legislative terms.
Over the past seven years, he has focused on promoting organic farming as a sustainable business for rural Aboriginal communities.
During a visit to Walis Pelin’s farm on Friday, Tsai praised his work on the passage of the Aboriginal Basic Act (原住民基本法) and the transfer of Aboriginal land rights from the Ministry of the Interior to the Council of Indigenous Peoples.
She said that a strong financial basis should be the pivotal concern in promoting Aboriginal autonomy, adding that the protection of Aboriginal land rights is among the crucial issues that the DPP intends to address.
Walis Pelin is among the principle architects of Tsai’s Aboriginal policies for her ongoing presidential campaign, sources have said.
Walis Pelin would face Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) incumbent Yosi Takun, also a Sediq, in the Sediq heartland of Renai Township (仁愛) in Nantou County.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS