Two more Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members yesterday registered for its New Taipei City mayoral primary, with one vowing to form a maritime self-defense force to defend the rights of Taiwanese fishermen.
Former Taipei county commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) and former New Taipei City councilor Ching Chieh-shou (金介壽) submitted their applications on the last day of registration, bringing the party’s total number of candidates for the mayoral election in November to three.
New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) completed his registration on Monday.
Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times
Setting his sights on making New Taipei City better than the nation’s capital, Chou said he would form a cooperative and competitive relationship with the next Taipei mayor.
“New Taipei City has 1.5 million more people than Taipei and 7.5 times more land, but our [annual] budget is NT$12.6 billion [US$430.7 million] less than that allocated to the capital,” Chou said, vowing to make sure that New Taipei City residents no longer consider themselves as second-class citizens.
Ching focused his campaign on fishermen, saying that the city is home to 34 harbors, five fishermen’s associations and thousands of fishermen.
Taking pride in being the first Taiwanese to set foot on and raise the Republic of China flag on one of the contested Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in 1996, Ching said that, if elected, he would create a maritime self-defense force, or even hire mercenary ships from the US, France or Africa to protect Taiwanese working at sea.
According to the KMT headquarters’ timetable, representatives of the party’s New Taipei City chapter are to meet with the three aspirants before Tuesday next week to discuss follow-up arrangements, KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said.
“They will jointly determine whether they want to have a policy presentation, as well as how many and which polling companies they intend to entrust with conducting public opinion polls,” Hung said.
The primary poll results for New Taipei City — the only one of the nation’s six special municipalities that is governed by a KMT member — are expected to be announced on March 26, Hung said.
As for the other special municipality mayoral races where the KMT has yet to nominate a candidate, Hung said the survey results for the Taoyuan primary would be made public on March 19, while the primaries for Tainan, Kaohsiung and Taipei are still being planned.
The KMT nominated Legislator Lu Hsiu-yen (盧秀燕) as its Taichung mayoral candidate on Tuesday last week.
Additional reporting by Lai Hsiao-tung and CNA
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS