Heavy metal band Chthonic lead vocalist and New Power Party founder Freddy Lim (林昶佐) yesterday announced that he would join the legislative race for Taipei City’s Wanhua (萬華) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts, just a few days after bowing out of the competition for the Daan District (大安) seat.
“There is no need to be confused; we have to bravely defend our homeland — Taiwan — on the battlefield,” Lim told a news conference in front of Longshan Temple (龍山寺) in Wanhua. “My name is Freddy Lim; I have firmly decided that I will run for a legislative seat representing Wanhua and Zhongzheng districts.”
Lim announced last month that he would run for the Daan and Wenshan (文山) district seat, as he was born and raised in Daan.
Photo: Min Wei, Taipei Times
However, after Fan Yun (范雲) of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) also announced her candidacy in the same constituency on Monday, Lim decided to yield, saying he would continue his legislative campaign in another constituency.
Explaining his decision, Lim said that, rather than focusing on his own victory, he is more concerned with how the “progressive force” may be maximized.
“The place where my capacity to fight could be maximized, more energy could be gathered and the progressive force may win is my battlefield,” Lim said.
“I believe I am a candidate who has a bigger chance of winning in this particular constituency,” he said.
Asked to comment on rumors that the SPD might also nominate a candidate for the electoral district, Lim said that he has been in close touch with the SPD and the two parties are on good terms.
He said he does not believe the SPD would nominate a candidate wherever he decides to run, and the party had told him in private that it has no plan to do so.
“If another party were to follow wherever I go, I think everyone would feel weird about it,” Lim said. “I do not think this would happen, unless they are drunk.”
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
RSS