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.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
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