New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday denied that he would form a new political party, saying that he hopes to integrate all third-force parties to better counter the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in next year’s legislative elections.
Fitness celebrity Holger Chen (陳之漢) on Saturday said in a live broadcast that Huang had told him that he could leave the NPP to form a new party.
The party could be called “the white alliance” or “white power,” Chen said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
When asked about the claim at a rally outside the Control Yuan in Taipei, Huang said that a group of people are indeed organizing a new third-force party, which could be named “the white alliance,” but he is not among them.
He has tried to recruit one of them for the NPP, but the party declined on the grounds that it did not want to become a sidekick to the DPP, Huang said.
If the NPP did become a sidekick to the DPP, he would leave without hesitation, because “that is not my political objective,” the former NPP chairman added.
The KMT and DPP have separately held legislative majorities, and “everyone knows how that turned out,” Huang said.
Having more lawmakers from third-force parties would prevent a ruling party from pushing through whatever bill it wants, holding its power in check, he said.
He has two plans to achieve that goal, Huang said.
“Plan A” envisions recruiting more like-minded people to the NPP, while “plan B” would integrate all third-force parties to increase their combined number of seats in the legislature, he said.
He has visited Chen, among others, to receive feedback on how he could integrate and strengthen third-force parties, he said.
Chen was the second person he talked to about the issue and he was to meet with two more people later yesterday, he added.
A major obstacle to plan A is whether the NPP would become the DPP’s sidekick and how it can convince people that it does not simply play a supporting role to the DPP, he said.
Huang said he is open to other options and suggestions.
DOING ENOUGH? The HPA budgets NT$1.3 billion to prevent the health hazards of tobacco, but has no separate budget to fight teen drinking, a doctor said The government should step up alcohol education and prevention efforts, and allocate more of the budget to it, doctors said on Friday, citing the high consumption of alcohol among Taiwanese adolescents. One out of four 12-to-17-year-olds has consumed alcohol, said Yen Tsung-hai (顏宗海), director of Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Department of Clinical Toxicology. The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) budgets NT$1.3 billion (US$43.9 million) annually to prevent the health hazards of tobacco, but it has not allocated a separate budget for preventing teenage drinking or excessive alcohol use, Yen said. “There is no so-called ‘safe drinking level’ for minors,” because any amount consumed
The Fancy Frontier manga and anime expo held in Taipei over the weekend has sparked controversy, after a participant allegedly contravened the Act on Offenses Against Sexual Morality (妨害風化罪) by publicly exposing her private parts during a photo shoot. The two-day event opened at the Expo Dome at the Taipei Expo Park on Saturday, attracting numerous comic and anime creators, cosplayers, photographers and fans. Allegedly, a female cosplayer who was not wearing any underwear lifted up her skirt and revealed her private parts at an outdoor photography area near the venue. Event organizers said yesterday that to prevent indecent exposure, they have since
YOUNGEST PATIENT: Cases of botulism have been only sporadically reported over the past few years, with two in 2015, six in 2016 and none in the past three years The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the nation’s first case of infant botulism this year, a four-month-old boy in northern Taiwan, as well as five new cases of Japanese encephalitis confirmed last week. The boy was introduced to homemade solid food in the middle of last month, but began to experience constipation and loss of appetite on June 23, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said, adding that he was taken to the hospital when he developed a fever and shortness of breath on June 25. In the hospital, the boy also experienced a rapid heartbeat, limb
The National Taiwan Museum’s Railway Department Park in Taipei is to open to the public today. The park in Datong District (大同) near the North Gate (北門, Beimen) is one of the museum’s four branches. During the Japanese colonial era, the site housed the railway department of the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan’s Bureau of Transportation. After World War II, it served as the headquarters for the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) for several decades. In 2007, it was listed as a national monument under the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法). At an opening ceremony yesterday, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung
RSS