Former Chinese pro-democracy dissident Wuer Kaixi yesterday announced in a surprise move that he is dropping his bid to win a seat in the legislature through the Greater Taichung by-election, but planned to run in the 2016 legislative elections.
The by-election was made necessary after the legislative seat held by Taichung mayoral candidate Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) was vacated after Lin resigned just days before the election on Nov. 29.
He won the election and was sworn in as mayor on Thursday.
Wuer Kaixi announced his by-election bid on Dec. 1.
A leader in China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, Wuer Kaixi, 46, said in a statement on Facebook that he decided to withdraw from the by-election after discussing it with his campaign team.
He said he wanted to run because he could contribute to dealing with what he sees as the biggest challenges facing the nation — deepening democracy and cross-strait ties.
However, he felt the short campaigning time for the by-election and the short time in office he would have before the next elections if he were to win would not give him enough time to realize his goals, he said in the post.
He therefore changed his mind and decided to run for a legislative seat in the 2016 elections, which would give him a four-year term if elected, he said.
On the issue of democracy, he said he supports an expansion of civil participation that would allow civic groups to thrive.
As for cross-strait relations, he advocated facing up to problems and encouraging discussion within Taiwan, across the Strait and in the international community.
“My special background may make special contributions on the issue,” he said.
On whether voters can accept him, Wuer Kaixi said earlier this month that he has had a Taiwan ID card for 15 years and has never had doubts about being accepted.
In addition to being an exiled dissident who has been accepted by Taiwan, he is the father of two children born here, he works and pays taxes here, and he has donated blood 50 times, he said.
After the bloody crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Beijing, Wuer Kaixi went into exile in the US, where he met his Taiwanese wife, Chen Hui-ling (陳慧玲), who was studying there.
He now lives in Greater Taichung, a special municipality with eight single-seat districts.
Lin became the legislator representing the sixth district in 2012 with 96,685 votes, or 51.78 percent.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS