Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday announced the party’s list of legislator-at-large candidates, saying the list shows the party’s readiness to take over the responsibilities of a governing party.
“Society has more expectations of us this time, and we have more space as well, so we wanted to demonstrate a different way of thinking,” Wu said after members of the DPP Central Executive Committee agreed on the final list of legislator-at-large candidates.
“Candidates on the ‘safe’ list represent a variety of social issues: food safety; environmental protection; social welfare; healthcare; long-term care; finance and pension reform; youth entrepreneurship; agriculture; labor; Aboriginal matters; Hakka matters; culture; education; gender; children and juvenile rights; human rights; judicial reform; and transitional justice,” Wu said.
“These are the issues that the public is most concerned about, and in the future, we will depend on these legislators to push for reform and progress in their respective fields,” he added.
The party estimated that it might receive enough ballots to secure seats in the legislature for the first 16 people on the list of 34.
The top 16 candidates on the list include National Taiwan University College of Public Health associate professor Wu Kun-yuh (吳焜裕), who ranked first; Federation for the Welfare of the Elderly secretary-general Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴); long-time environmentalist Chen Man-li (陳曼麗); Taiwan Rural Front secretary-general Frida Tsai (蔡培慧); Alliance for Handicapped People secretary-general Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋); and Taoyuan Department of Indigenous Affairs Director-General Kolas Yotaka.
Incumbent legislators-at-large — such as Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君), Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) and Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) — were also on the “safe list.”
“The list shows that we are ready to take on the responsibilities of a governing party, as well as our drive to expand our support in society,” Joseph Wu said. “I would like to extend my gratitude for the passage of the list, and I hope that all will support it so we can improve our representation and capability in the legislature.”
Many veteran lawmakers and elected officials were omitted from the list, because the party wanted to recruit more new blood, DPP spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) quoted Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), who was a member of the nomination committee, as saying.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)