New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) yesterday said that he would leave the party to support President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) re-election bid and expressed the hope that his departure would bring change to the party.
He said that he would run for re-election in Taipei’s Zhongzheng-Wanhua electoral district as an independent and would work with like-minded people across party lines to ensure that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) does not win a legislative majority.
Lim made the announcement immediately after the NPP’s decisionmaking committee held an extraordinary meeting to discuss its strategies for next year’s presidential and legislative elections.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Before the meeting, several party members had launched an internal petition calling for the NPP to rally behind Tsai, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member, in the presidential election.
Some NPP members believe that the party should conduct a poll to determine its stance on the presidential election, because many supporters are fans of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Lim said.
“Four years ago, the NPP’s stance was that it would support Tsai for the sake of Taiwan’s sovereignty and at the same time work hard to keep her administration in check. Why can we not do that this time?” he asked.
He said that for years he has tried to resolve differences within the party about its strategies, but no consensus has been reached.
As the elections are just five months away, “if I cannot convince the party, I must move forward on my own path,” Lim said.
To ensure that the KMT does not gain a majority in the legislature, he said he would also try to coordinate with all pan-green parties to build a system in which there is only one pan-green candidate in each legislative constituency.
Asked if he would join the DPP or Ko’s new party, Lim said that he had no plans to join either.
Shortly after Lim’s announcement, NPP Legislator Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) revealed that she and Lim had discussed leaving the party together.
“If things come to a point where a pro-China party could return to power and I must choose, I would leave without hesitation,” she said.
However, for now she would stay with the NPP to try and make a difference, she said.
Despite having different views on the party’s strategies, NPP members share the goal of keeping a local party in power and making the NPP “the key minority” in the legislature,” Hung said.
The committee has decided to work to ensure that the nation continues to be run by a local party and discuss with friendly parties about collaborating in the legislative elections, NPP Chairman Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said.
Chiu said that he had told Lim the committee would align with Lim’s goal, but Lim walked out of the meeting before it ended.
The NPP would not support a potential Ko bid for the presidency, because it is opposed to his cross-strait approach that “people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family,” Chiu said, adding that the chance of the NPP nominating its own presidential candidate was “very small.”
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
WAR’S END ANNIVERSARY: ‘Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,’ the president said on social media after attending a morning ceremony Countries should uphold peace, and promote freedom and democracy, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as Taiwan marked 80 years since the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and other top officials in the morning attended a ceremony at the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to honor those who sacrificed their lives in major battles. “Taiwanese are peace-loving. Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,” Lai wrote on Facebook afterward, apparently to highlight the contrast with the military parade in Beijing marking the same anniversary. “We
RSS