Independent Taipei Councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元) yesterday officially announced his candidacy for the Legislative Yuan, complicating “third force” electoral efforts by turning Taipei’s eighth electoral district into a three-way race.
At a campaign launch surrounded by supporters, Lee promised to push for constitutional reform and to address growing income inequality if elected.
A member of the New Party before joining the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 2010, Lee announced his withdrawal from the KMT last month before being officially expelled. He yesterday stated that he would not join any political party if elected, amid rumors that he was considering joining the People First Party.
Lee said he would welcome leaders from any political party to campaign on his behalf, displaying a congratulatory message reading: “The brave fear nothing” sent by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), also an independent.
Lee has represented Taipei’s Daan (大安) and Wenshan (文山) districts in the city council for 16 years.
He is to stand in Taipei’s eighth electoral district, which encompasses Wenshan as well as parts of Zhongzheng District (中正), facing off against KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Miao Bo-ya (苗博雅).
The Democratic Progressive Party has not nominated a candidate for the district to allow space for “third force” electoral efforts.
Former Taipei city councilor Yang Shih-chiu (楊實秋), who was also expelled from the KMT last month, has said he also plans to run in next year’s legislative elections, competing for Taipei’s seventh electoral district, encompassing the Songshan (松山) and Xinyi (信義) districts. The SDP has nominated gay rights advocate Lu Hsin-chieh (呂欣潔) for the district, with no candidate nominated by the DPP.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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