New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday said that he would not run for chairman again next month and has not yet decided whether to run again in next year’s legislative elections.
“After much thought and consideration, I have decided not to run for a seat on the party’s decisionmaking committee and step aside from duties,” Huang told a news conference at the party’s caucus office in Taipei.
He said he had not applied to join the committee, which stopped accepting applications for registration at 12am yesterday.
Not being on the committee would disqualify Huang from taking part in the chairperson election on Friday next week.
According to the NPP’s charter, the chairperson must be on the decisionmaking committee and is elected by its 15 members.
Huang has been on the committee for two terms and chosen as chairman twice since he joined the party in 2015.
“Since the party has developed a steady foundation, this is an appropriate time for me to set aside my party duties and switch my focus to promoting reforms important to Taiwan’s future,” Huang wrote on Facebook earlier in the day.
Although there is still room for improvement, the NPP has successfully differentiated itself from the pan-green and pan-blue camps, and has built a solid political base, he said.
The party won five legislative seats in 2016, and 16 seats in the city and county council elections in last year, he said.
Opinion polls conducted earlier this month found that 12 to 17 percent of the public supports the NPP, he added.
Huang told the news conference that he hopes to see more talented members participate in running the party so that the public could come to know them better.
While it is common for minor parties to have the same chairman for many years, he has always believed that “the NPP will not and should not do that,” he said.
“The NPP is a democratic party, not a one-man party,” he added.
He would continue to work as a legislator, but would not take up the party’s caucus convener post, he said.
“If I do continue my career in politics, I would have to decide where to place myself to better contribute to issues that I care about and how I can make Taiwan a nation where everyone has an equal chance to realize their dream,” he said.
Asked by reporters if his decision not to contest the chairmanship was to take responsibility for the NPP’s loss in New Taipei City last year, or if he was considering running for president next year, Huang said no.
The decisionmaking committee election is to be held online from Monday to Wednesday next week. Sixty-four people have registered to compete for the 15 seats.
They include NPP legislators Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), Freddy Lim (林昶佐), Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) and Kawlo Iyun Pacidal, NPP Secretary-General Chen Hui-min (陳惠敏) and Taipei City Councilor Lin Liang-chun (林亮君).
While many expect Lim to be elected chairman, he told reporters yesterday that he has no plan to compete for the position.
“There are many talented young members of the party and it would be good to have a younger chairman,” he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS