Former New Party legislator Yao Li-ming (姚立明) has given his nod to independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) invitation to join his election campaign team, saying he hopes the move can help usher in change between the opposing pan-blue and pan-green camps.
Now a political commentator, Yao was once a key figure in the anti-corruption movement, or the so-called “red-shirt army,” in 2006 against then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Yao is also a member of the pan-blue, pro-unification New Party.
Photo: CNA
Ko’s recruitment of Yao is widely viewed as an effort to broaden his electoral base.
Yao said in a statement posted on Facebook early yesterday morning that before making the final decision, he had taken time to ponder and weigh different factors, “but the determining factor is my wish to prove with this move that the deep-seated blue-green opposition can be changed.”
“Ko came from a family that had suffered from the 228 Massacre, while my parents came from China. Ko is green-leaning and I was once a New Party member. He was Chen Shui-bian’s physician and medical adviser, while I was the deputy commander-in-chief of the red-shirt army,” Yao said.
Photo: Tu Chu-min, Taipei Times
Out of all these differences, “there is something that we have in common,” he said.
“Neither of us wants to sit idly while witnessing Taiwan get drained away by the endless vicious blue-green infighting,” he said.
Yao underscored the consensus he had reached with Ko to look beyond political colors and focus on “black and white, and right and wrong,” saying that he expected the year-end mayoral election to be “not only an election, but also a civic movement that stops Taiwanese politics from descending into depravity.”
Former Democratic Progressive Party chairperson Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) lauded Yao’s decision and said on Facebook that Yao’s joining the campaign has made the goal of “transcending blue and green” one step closer.
However, given Yao’s background and past comments, there will no doubt be plenty of noise about his teaming up with Ko, Hsieh said.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital physician Kuo Cheng-deng (郭正典), a supporter of the former president and a member of his all-volunteer medicall team, said that Ko’s move might put off Chen supporters.
Janice Chen (陳昭姿), also a member of the medical team, agreed, saying that it would be even stranger if no one protests against Yao joining Ko’s campaign team.
However, “for the time being, [I] believe that as Yao has accepted Ko’s offer, he is willing to understand and assist what Ko has done so far to rescue the former president, whom Ko believes has suffered from political persecution,” she said.
A report by the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday said that Yao supports medical parole or home-based medical care for Chen if that is what the hospital suggests.
However, if the hospital says he can be treated behind bars, Chen should remain in prison to serve his sentence, he was reported as saying.
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained