The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday completed the nomination process for next year’s seven-in-one municipal elections for Hsinchu City and Yunlin, Taitung and Kinmen counties, with the KMT Central Standing Committee approving the candidate list.
Hsinchu Mayor Hsu Tsai-ming (許財明), Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) and Kinmen County Commissioner Li Wo-shi (李沃士) will seek re-election. Former KMT legislator Chang Li-shan (張麗善) was chosen to run for the Yunlin County commissioner job.
KMT spokesman Yang Wei-chun (楊偉中) said the party is scheduled to complete the nomination process in more difficult electoral zones next year, and will speed up the nomination process in cities and counties where the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has already determined its nominees.
The KMT plans to complete the second-round nominations by January, while continuing to struggle finalizing nominees in pan-green strongholds in the south
The party dismissed allegations that Chiayi Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) will run in the Greater Tainan election against Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德).
For the Greater Kaohsiung mayoral race, the party plans to nominate former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yang Chiu-hsin (楊秋興).
In New Taipei City (新北市), former premier Yu Shyi-kun has won the DPP’s primary for the mayoral race. New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), a KMT member, has declined to say if he will seek an re-election.
“As mayor, my priority is to promote city development. There will be work to do when the elections approach, but now is not the time to talk about elections,” he said.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
INTEL: China’s ships are mapping strategic ocean floors, including near Guam, which could aid undersea cable targeting and have military applications, a report said China’s oceanographic survey and research ships are collecting data in the Indo-Pacific region — possibly to aid submarine navigation, detect or map undersea cables, and lay naval mines — activities that could have military applications in a conflict with Taiwan or the US, a New York Times report said. The article, titled “China Surveys Seabeds Where Naval Rivals May One Day Clash,” was written by Chris Buckley and published on Thursday. Starboard Maritime Intelligence data revealed that Chinese research ships last year repeatedly scanned the ocean floor east of Taiwan’s maritime border, and about 400km east and west of Guam; “waters that