Pundits have predicted possible infighting within the pan-blue camp in the run-up to next year’s legislative elections after news recently surfaced that the People First Party (PFP) rejected a proposal made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to collaborate in the nomination of candidates.
The PFP is a KMT splinter group that formed after the 2000 presidential election.
The first batch of legislative candidates announced by the PFP earlier this month includes PFP Deputy Secretary-General Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), who plans to run in Keelung, and Taipei City Councilor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), who is eyeing Taipei’s Nangang/Neihu (南港/內湖) constituency.
In New Taipei City, candidates announced by the PFP include former KMT lawmaker Chang Sho-wen (張碩文), who is to run for a legislative seat in the Sanchong District (三重), and media personality Hector Kang (康仁俊) running in the Banciao District (板橋).
Former legislator Chen Chao-jung (陳朝容) was also on the list, set to compete in Changhua County’s third constituency, the PFP said.
The announcement of the candidates means that the PFP and the KMT will directly compete with each other in Nangang/Neihu, Banciao and Keelung.
A source close to the pan-blue camp said that Nangang/Neihu and Keelung were the focus of negotiations initiated by the KMT, but the PFP never agreed to a proposal that candidates be selected after comparing their approval ratings in surveys.
In addition, a litany of criticism PFP members have hurled at President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the KMT demonstrated that the proposed collaboration lacked any rationale, the source said.
The nomination of Chang, Kang and Chen was an obvious gesture by the PFP to challenge the KMT, sources said, adding that despite the PFP’s chances of winning in the three constituencies are not very high, the KMT would have to mobilize support to outmaneuver the PFP’s candidates.
The KMT said that it would consider pitting Taipei City Councilor Lee Yan-hsiu (李彥秀) against Huang, and that it might bypass a primary to nominate KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), the former mayor of Taipei, to run in Keelung.
When asked to comment on his possible opponent on Thursday, Liu said that Hau, having served two terms as Taipei mayor, should be running for president instead.
Meanwhile, Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), an independent, has reportedly reached an agreement with the KMT to nominate Legislator Wang Ting-son (王廷升) instead of his protege, Hualien Deputy Commissioner Hsu Hsiang-ming (徐祥明), after Wang beat Hsu in polls.
Wang is to compete against Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in the constituency.
However, KMT supporters said it was unclear what kind of relationship Fu has with the PFP and that the party should be wary of possible variables Fu might add to the legislative race.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS