Academia Sinica research fellow Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), who had been considering a legislative bid on the New Power Party ticket, yesterday denied claims by New Taipei City Councilor Shen Fa-hui (沈發惠) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that Huang would run for the legislative seat in that city’s Sijhih District (汐止).
“I have never said that I would join the [legislative] race,” Huang said on Facebook. “I will not seek to run in Sijhih and I will do my best to help opposition candidates — including Shen — to defeat [Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)] Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華), so that there can be a good, local lawmaker representing the constituency.”
Huang posted the message in the afternoon after Shen said on Facebook that Huang was “finally going to make his splendid debut” in a legislative election.
Shen said that while he did not feel comfortable with the DPP’s decision not to include Sijhih in its list of constituencies to contest in next year’s legislative elections, he admired what Huang did during Sunflower movement last year and would support him if he decides to run.
“I still have two things to worry about,” Shen said. “First, are local DPP members feeling depressed about being abandoned by their party, and second, are voters upset over an ‘airborne’ candidate who does not know what people want?”
However, Shen said that he has been working hard in Sijhih for 18 years and hinted that Huang might not win the seat if he runs.
Shen called on the DPP’s Campaign Strategy Committee, as well as former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃)— who is in charge of the party’s campaign in New Taipei City — to be responsible if “the worst-case scenario” arises.
“Maybe everyone will be rejoicing over a victory for [DPP Chairperson] Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), so it would not seem important whether we lose one or two seats in the legislature or win more than 50 percent of the seats,” Shen said. “If we have a regrettable result [in the legislative elections], you will be celebrating a rotation of power, while I will be facing bitter fruit on my own in the dark.”
However, DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said that the Central Executive Committee has decided not to nominate candidates in 11 constituencies, with Sijhih being one of them.
“We will continue to negotiate with the utmost sincerity with the third political force, and I believe our channels of communication with our party members remains smooth,” Wang said.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
RSS