The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday confirmed that Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) would be its candidate in the Kaohsiung mayoral by-election, as President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) urged the party’s rank and file to support Chen’s campaign.
Tsai — joined by Chen, DPP Secretary-General Lin Hsi-yao (林錫耀), Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — made the announcement after a DPP Central Standing Committee meeting at the party’s headquarters in Taipei.
“Chen is a strong fighter, he is our party’s best candidate and the person most suitable for the job,” Tsai said, adding that Chen, who had been a long-time Kaohsiung resident and considers the city his hometown, had decades of experience in important local and central government positions.
Photo: CNA
Tsai said that she and Chen were shocked by the results of the Kaohsiung mayoral election in November 2018, which he lost to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
“However, it taught our party a lesson: We must listen to Taiwanese and carry out reforms,” she said. “The residents of Kaohsiung are giving us the chance to take a make-up test — and we must stand, picking ourselves up from where we stumbled. We are determined to win not just for our party, but also for Kaohsiung — for new infrastructure and development.”
Chen said that he could provide the city with the leadership needed to reach a better future, bring it new hope and make true the party maxim: “DPP governance is quality assurance.”
“In the 2018 Kaohsiung mayoral election, I did not do enough, and the results let many people down. It was a big setback for me,” he said, “Now I want to return there, to work hard and fight together with the residents of Kaohsiung.”
Although born in Keelung, Chen grew up in Kaohsiung, and after completing a medical degree, he obtained a master’s in preventative medicine from National Taiwan University’s College of Public Health.
The 55-year-old was a DPP legislator for five terms and has also held top posts, such as DPP deputy secretary-general, Cabinet spokesman, Presidential Office deputy secretary-general and Kaohsiung deputy mayor.
After nearly 940,000 Kaohsiung voters cast their ballots to recall Han as mayor on June 6, a by-election to replace him was scheduled for Aug. 15.
Chen’s aides have organized a rally for tomorrow to launch his campaign and so that he can meet with Kaohsiung residents.
Chen said that his last Cabinet meeting would be today, which would allow him to say goodbye to colleagues and friends before going to Kaohsiung to focus on his campaign.
Executive Yuan spokesman Ting Yi-ming (丁怡銘) said that Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) had approved Chen’s resignation, effective tomorrow.
“In his resignation letter, Chen gave as reasons the opportunity to serve the residents of Kaohsiung and his decision to run in the by-election,” Ting said. “Premier Su approved Chen’s request and thanked him for his contributions during the COVID-19 outbreak and his handling of government affairs as vice premier over more than a year.”
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS