Integration with non-mainstream candidates in Taipei’s seventh legislative district can occur only if they take positions demonstrating a common ideology, Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Jennifer Lu (呂欣潔) said yesterday.
“Over the past decade, I have participated in all sorts of social movements to push society forward — where were Richard Chang (張承中) and Yang Shih-chiu (楊實秋) when these movements needed help?” she said, suggesting that candidates with a “pan-blue” background such as Chang and Yang should “integrate” with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰), the incumbent.
Chang is the son of former New Party legislator Chang Shih-liang (張世良). Yang served as a KMT city councilor before being expelled from the party in July.
“In the past, there have often been KMT figures who left the party after they felt the political winds were not right, only to rejoin it later,” she said. “We do not rule integration with any similar progressive force, but it has to be a new political force rather than part of the old forces controlled by the KMT.”
Chang and Yang should stake out their positions on labor rights, cross-straits relations, homosexual rights and pension reform through public debates, Lu said.
Her comments came in the wake of DPP Taipei chapter head Huang Cheng-kuo (黃承國) saying that his party would provide a platform for “integration” polls in Taipei’s seventh and third districts.
The DPP plans to conduct integration polls for Chang and Yang by Wednesday, as well as polls to integrate television anchor Chen Fei-chuan (陳斐娟) and independent candidate Billy Pan (潘建志) in the third district, Huang said.
Lu and the SDP third district candidate Lee Yen-jong (李晏榕) would be invited to participate in the polls, he said.
SDP Secretary-General Yeh Hung-ling (葉虹靈) on Friday said that integration should be about “maximizing progressive values” not just “counting votes.”
The DPP did not nominate candidates for six of Taipei’s eight electoral districts.
Taipei’s eighth district is another arena with several candidates: the SDP’s Miao Bo-ya (苗博雅) faces former KMT city councilor Lee Ching-yuan (李慶元), Tree Party candidate Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) and KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆).
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
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