The New Power Party (NPP) plans to announce a second wave of legislative district candidates next month, party-building taskforce interim “captain” Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said.
The party has already announced six district candidates, with a total of 10 candidates required for it to be eligible for at-large legislative seats.
Huang said that there are two districts in which the NPP and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have both nominated candidates, including New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) and Hsinchu. He said the NPP will respect each individual candidate’s choice of how to “harmonize” with the DPP.
The NPP is inclined to nominate four more candidates in districts uncontested by the DPP, Huang said, adding that their main objective is to ensure that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) do not achieve a majority in the legislature.
He said there have been many independent candidates who have contacted the NPP to express interest in the second wave of nominations.
When asked whether he would take campaign promotional pictures with DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Huang said that he would first place a priority on policy interaction between the two parties. Because of his position as interim head of the taskforce, he should “wait a bit” as a matter of “tempo,” he said.
Chthonic frontman Freddy Lim (林昶佐), the NPP’s candidate for Taipei’s Zhongzheng/Wanhua (中正/萬華) district, has become the party’s second candidate to take pictures with Tsai for use in campaign promotional materials.
The DPP has “made way” for the musician’s candidacy by abstaining from nominating a competing candidate to stand in the district.
Lim said that DPP city councilors Chou Wei-you (周威佑) and Liu Yao-jen (劉耀仁) have allowed him to place campaign flags at their local offices, with Liu also lending him a campaign truck and election billboards, he said.
He added that he had “stayed in touch” with the district’s other two DPP city councilors, Yan Sheng-kuan (顏聖冠) and Tung Chung-yan (童仲彥).
Both sides hoped to have positive interactions similar to that between the DPP and independent Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Lim said.
He said there were plans to put on large-scale grassroots forums along with smaller scale receptions with lower levels of the DPP, with the objective of solidifying the party’s hold on traditional DPP voters even as it broadens its share of swing voters.
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)
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
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