Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) yesterday staged a one-woman protest against the recent actions by the party’s Election Campaign Strategy Committee.
Holding a placard that accused the election committee of making opaque decisions on election nominations, Kao walked into the party’s Taipei headquarters right before its Central Executive Committee’s (CEC) weekly meeting was scheduled to begin.
“Chairperson, I am Kao Chia-yu, and I want to protest against the Election Campaign Strategy Committee’s non-transparent decision,” she shouted as DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) entered the meeting room.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), a CEC member, then blocked Kao from entering the room.
Kao told reporters that she had learned the election committee had been in touch People First Party Taipei City Councilor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), and reached an agreement that the DPP would not nominate a candidate for the legislative seat representing Taipei’s Neihu (內湖) and Nangang (南港) districts in return for Huang cooperating with the DPP if Tsai win’s January’s presidential election.
Kao had previously said that she was willing to run for that seat.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福) later told Kao that “if the party wants you to run, then you run; if it does not want you to run, then you do not run — unless you quit the party, and then we would not be able to tell you what to do.”
During its meeting, the CSC backed the election committee’s decision not to nominate candidates for 11 electoral districts in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung and Hsinchu and Lienchiang counties, election committee convener Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) told a press conference.
Candidates from third political forces, including the New Power Party (NPP), Social Democratic Party and Green Party Taiwan would benefit from the DPP’s decision not to nominate candidates in some of those districts, while the DPP would throw its support behind independent former Hsinchu County commissioner Cheng Yung-chin (鄭永金), who is running for one of the county’s legislative seats, Su said.
Su also said that the election committee wanted to talk with DPP Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) before it made any decision about Liang running for a legislative seat.
Liang earlier this month said he would not take part in the legislative elections after former DPP chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) said that as a newly elected city councilor, Liang would be breaking political promises to voters if he ran for a legislative seat.
Heavy metal band Chthonic lead vocalist Freddy Lim (林昶佐), who is running for the legislative seat representing Taipei’s Zhongzheng (中正) and Wanhua (萬華) districts on the NPP ticket, welcomed the DPP’s decision not to nominate a candidate for that district.
“With such an atmosphere of solidarity, Taiwanese would have a greater opportunity of achieving the aim of overturning the Chinese Nationalist Party’s [KMT] long-term control of the legislature,” Lim said in a news release. “The decision is not a relief; rather, it is a greater responsibility for me. I will continue to visit and gain support from the more than 200,000 voters in Zhongzheng and Wanhua districts, for that I believe that the victory can only be won through solidarity.”
“Let us together make society a better place, and stand united to complete this historical democratic reform,” he said.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
RSS