Army reserve General and former vice minister of national defense Hu Chen-pu (胡鎮埔) is slated to announce on Saturday his decision to run in January’s legislative election as an independent, sources said yesterday.
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德), who no longer has ties to the party, pushed for Hu’s participation in the election, the sources said.
Hu will reportedly run in Bade (八德), Taoyuan County, where he would be pitted against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千). The DPP has not nominated a candidate for the Bade seat and sources say the party will quietly support Hu in the elections.
In the past, most armed forces reserve officers who have served as legislators have held legislator-at-large seats nominated by the KMT. The highest ranking among them was Ku Chung-lien (顧崇廉), a former commander-in-chief of the navy.
Only a handful of reserve officers have competed in legislative elections: army Major-General Chou Shu-fu (周書府) and navy Vice Admiral Hsiao Chu-chiao (蕭楚喬) were elected as members of the legislature; air force -Lieutenant-General Chen Hung-chuan (陳鴻銓) stood for a seat, but was not elected; and air force Major-General Kao Wei-ho (高崴和) was elected to a seat representing an Aboriginal constituency.
Hu would be the first reserve general to ever stand for a legislative election.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about