New Power Party (NPP) legislative candidate Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) yesterday registered his candidacy for the Hsinchu district seat, following the failure of efforts to “integrate” with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
“We showed a huge amount of good faith by putting out the possibility of integration polls, but that was not something we could make happen on our own,” Chiu said. “Prior to the official registration, there was always a possibility of using polls to integrate, but that possibility fell apart after [Ker] registered on Monday.”
“Integration” refers to an ad hoc primary process under which competing candidates agree to withdraw from the race and support whoever ranks highest in a negotiated set of surveys.
Photo: Wang Chun-chieh, Taipei Times
Ker last week was quoted in the Chinese-language media as saying that integration was a “fake issue” used for “electoral manipulation.”
“We will keep moving forward on our set course,” Chiu said, adding that while reform of the Legislative Yuan will remain one of the pillars of his campaign, his focus would be on the system, not Ker’s role as the DPP caucus whip.
Chiu has been critical of role that cross-party negotiations — often conducted behind closed doors — play in the passage of legislation, while Ker has said that such discussions are a necessary measure to solve deadlocks on the legislative floor.
Ker yesterday dismissed concerns that having two pan-green candidates in the race would deliver a victory to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Cheng Cheng-chien (鄭正鈐), citing last year’s Hsinchu mayoral election that saw DPP candidate Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) elected even though former DPP mayor Tsai Jen-chien (蔡仁堅) ran as an independent in the race.
Hsinchu is now the sole legislative district to have both a DPP and a NPP candidate in the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections, as the parties were able to coordinate on the nominations for most of the other district seats where there was an overlap.
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Friday laid out the Cabinet’s updated policy agenda and recapped the government’s achievements ahead of the one-year anniversary of President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration. Cho said the government had made progress across a range of areas, including rebuilding Hualien, cracking down on fraud, improving pedestrian safety and promoting economic growth. “I hope the public will not have the impression that the Cabinet only asked the legislature to reconsider a bunch of legal amendments,” Cho said, calling the moves “necessary” to protect constitutional governance and the public’s interest. The Cabinet would work toward achieving its “1+7” plan, he said. The
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) hosted a dinner in Taipei last night with key Taiwanese suppliers to celebrate the successful mass production of the company’s new Blackwell AI systems. Speaking to the media earlier yesterday, Huang thanked Nvidia’s Taiwanese partners for their contributions to the company’s ecosystem, while also sharing his plans to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀). In response to rumors that Nvidia will launch a downgraded Hopper H20 chip for China in July, Huang dismissed the reports, saying, “That is not true.” He clarified that there
RSS