Sunflower movement leader Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) yesterday announced he is to withdraw from the New Power Party (NPP), in a surprise move after the “third force” party won its first legislative seats in Saturday’s elections.
“Although there will probably not be anyone who cares: While I am currently an NPP member, I will apply to withdraw from the party tomorrow [yesterday],” Chen said on Facebook early on Sunday.
He said he wished the party’s elected legislators all the best.
Chen headed the campaign of NPP Hsinchu City candidate Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智), who lost to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in a three-way race after refusing to withdraw, despite pressure from the DPP.
The party’s three other district candidates were endorsed by the DPP.
Chen could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Chiu yesterday said that Chen had discussed leaving the party with him, citing Chen as saying he would have to serve his mandatory military service and he has long-term plans to study abroad.
Chen was expelled from a master’s degree in sociology program at National Tsing Hua University for failing to meet attendance requirements due to his campaign commitments.
Chiu denied that disappointment over losing the race was connected with Chen’s decision, adding that rumors his campaign had been “abandoned” by the NPP in the final stretch of the campaign were “nonsense.”
Chen’s decision came after Dennis Wei (魏揚), another Sunflower leader who also worked on Chiu’s campaign, openly endorsed the Green Party-Social Democratic Party Alliance before the elections.
NPP Secretary-General Chen Hui-min (陳惠敏) attributed Chen’s decision to “moodiness,” saying she talk with Chen and other members of Chiu’s campaign team about whether there had been any misunderstandings.
“They were under a lot of pressure for a long time and would worry a lot about whether or not the battle against Ker would hamper other candidates,” she said. “This was all really unfair to them, so for those feeling to explode after the election is perfectly normal.”
She denied the party had “cut off” Chiu during the campaign’s final stretch, stating that they had always hoped he would win.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
RSS