Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) of the Democratic Progressive Party won re-election yesterday, defeating a challenge by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) and three independents.
However, no official tallies were available from the Central Election Committee as of press time last night.
Cheng’s success in securing a second term did not surprise political observers, as he had maintained a solid lead over Chen in pre-election opinion polls.
However, he had also faced strong competition from former KMT legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環), who ran as an independent candidate after failing to win the KMT’s nomination, as well as Chu Mei-hsueh (朱梅雪) and Wu Fu-tung (吳富彤).
In the Nov. 29, 2014, nine-in-one elections Cheng beat then-Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) of the KMT with 51 percent of the vote to become the city’s first mayor after it was elevated to a special municipality the following month.
Voters in Taoyuan, as in other cities across the nation, waited in long lines to cast their votes.
One man, surnamed Lee (李), said he voted for Cheng because he thought a controversial underground railway project would be postponed if Taoyuan had a new mayor, adding that the project had been delayed too long.
Even though construction of the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line did not begin during Cheng’s term, Lee said the system runs normally, which has been a great help to real-estate development in the Cingpu (青埔) Urban Planning Zone.
“I handle housing loans at a bank. We have seen a lot of investment from real-estate developers,” Lee said. “We have businesses coming in, and that was our hope.”
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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