Richard Chang (張承中), husband of pop singer Selina Jen (任家萱), yesterday announced on Facebook that he will run as an independent legislative candidate in Taipei’s seventh electoral district, becoming the fifth person to enter the race.
The constituency is comprised of Xinyi District (信義) and the southern part of Songshan District (松山).
Chang, a lawyer, said he is “gratified” that friends have urged him to run, including prominent members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the People First Party.
Chang said he is “running to get things done,” and would not “join a party for the sake of running.”
“I am not pan-blue, pan-green or pan-orange, but a force for the center,” he said.
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰), who is seeking re-election in the seventh district, said that everyone has a right to participate in elections in a democracy and he had “no special thoughts” about Chang’s candidacy.
His own record of public service and achievements in “fighting against the establishment” are well known, Tsai said.
Green Party Taiwan and Social Democratic Party Alliance legislative candidate Lu Hsin-chieh (呂欣潔) questioned Chang’s ability to address economic issues such as income inequality, inadequate protection of workers’ rights, youth impoverishment and the costs of raising a family, given that according to Chang’s own announcement he is wealthy enough to own property in Xinyi, one of Taipei’s most expensive districts.
The other candidates in the seventh district race are Taiwan Independence Party member Huang Ching-yuan (黃清原) and former KMT Taipei city councilor Yang Shih-chiu (楊實秋), who was expelled from the KMT in July over comments he made about the central government and is running as an independent.
DPP Taipei chapter head Cheng-kuo (黃承國) said the DPP considers the district a “no-nomination” race in order to give “third-force” candidates room to run.
The DPP would prefer to see non-aligned groups join forces and nominate a single candidate before it considers making one of the candidates its official partner, Huang said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS