The New Power Party’s (NPP) decisionmaking committee yesterday elected former NPP secretary-general Kao Yu-ting (高鈺婷) as chairwoman.
Former committee members earlier this month jointly stepped down after former NPP chairman Hsu Yung-ming’s (徐永明) alleged involvement in a bribery scandal related to an ownership dispute over the Pacific Sogo Department Store chain was made public.
Hsu, who served as a legislator from February 2016 to January, was on Aug. 3 suspended from heading the party after the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office filed a motion to detain him in connection with the case.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
In Friday’s decisionmaking committee election, Kao garnered the second-highest number of votes — 1,018 — trailing only Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭), who received 1,071 votes.
The new 15-member committee yesterday elected Kao chairwoman, the NPP said, adding that the next party chairperson and committee elections are to be held on Feb. 28 next year.
A former engineer at the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Kao represented the NPP in this year’s legislative election in Hsinchu City, but came in third behind candidates of Taiwan’s two major parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party, with 29 percent of the vote.
In the past few weeks, the NPP has seen the departure of a number of party members, including Taipei city councilors Huang Yu-fen (黃郁芬) and Lin Ying-meng (林穎孟), Miaoli County Councilor Tseng Wen-hsueh (曾玟學) and Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Chieh (黃捷).
Kao yesterday in her first statement as chairwoman said it was regrettable that the party has lost members and support in the wake of the Sogo scandal, but it would continue to offer solutions to the nation’s problems.
“The NPP is a party that is not afraid to reflect on itself and engage in reforms,” she said, adding that it would work toward reinventing itself in the next six months.
An NPP member, commenting on condition of anonymity, said that the recent departures underscored the party’s problems, adding that the NPP lacks direction.
While Kao has the support of Legislator Chiu Hsieh-chih (邱顯智), she does not have the seniority enjoyed by Hsu or former NPP chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), the party member said, adding that time would tell if Kao can garner widespread support.
Additional reporting by CNA
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
RSS