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.”
CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT: A new committee would investigate a backlog of US weapons sales to Taiwan, said its chairman, US Representative Mike Gallagher The US should formally recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, and end its outdated and counterproductive “one China” policy, US Representative Tom Tiffany and 18 other US lawmakers wrote in a petition. “It is time to change the status quo and recognize the reality denied by the US government for decades: Taiwan is an independent nation,” Tiffany told the Epoch Times. “As our long-standing and valued partner, correctly acknowledging their independence from communist China is long overdue.” The resolution also asks the administration of US President Joe Biden to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to negotiate a bilateral free-trade
GUT FEELING: In the leaked memo, US Air Force General Mike Minihan urged mobile command personnel to go to a firing range, shoot at a target and ‘aim for the head’ A four-star US Air Force general has warned of a conflict with China as early as 2025 — most likely over Taiwan — and urged his commanders to push their units to achieve maximum operational battle readiness this year. In an internal memorandum that first emerged on social media on Friday, and was later confirmed as genuine by the Pentagon, Air Mobility Command Commander General Mike Minihan said that the main goal should be to deter “and, if required, defeat” China. “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025,” Minihan said. Minihan said that Taiwan’s presidential election
INCREASED RISK: The Omicron BA.2.75 subvariant has higher immune evasive capacity, but the CECC is more concerned about newer subvariants such as XBB and BQ.1 With the peak season for infectious respiratory diseases coming to an end, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that details of the next phase of lifting COVID-19 masking rules — removing the mask requirement in most indoor settings — are to be announced this week. Discussions on lifting other COVID-19 restrictions are also being held, including further easing border control measures, home isolation requirements and revising the definition for reporting cases, while also downgrading COVID-19 to a lower category of notifiable communicable disease, said Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC. As the daily
DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM: Czech president-elect Petr Pavel said his nation stands firmly on the side of democracy and would boost cooperation with Taipei in all aspects Czech president-elect Petr Pavel spoke by telephone with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday, a highly unusual move given the lack of formal ties and a diplomatic coup for Taipei. Tsai spoke with Pavel for 15 minutes in a harmonious atmosphere, Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) said, adding that Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) was also present during the conversation. Lin quoted Pavel as telling Tsai that Taiwan is a trustworthy partner, adding that the Czech Republic stands firmly on the side of democracy and supports Taiwan in maintaining a lively democratic system free from authoritarian coercion. The Czech Republic would
RSS