The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday established a Kaohsiung chapter, with a pledge to win at least three city councilor seats in elections next year.
TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) doubles as the head of the chapter, which is headquartered on Sandao 2nd Road in Cianjhen District (前鎮).
It is also Jang’s service office.
Photo: Ko Yu-hao, Taipei Times
At a launch ceremony, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is also the TPP chairman, said that the party’s five legislators, including Jang, have been named “excellent lawmakers” in a Citizen Congress Watch report, showing that they have helped improve the performance of the Legislative Yuan.
However, in a country that claims to be under the rule of law, the government should take the lead in conforming to the law, Ko said, adding that state-owned enterprises should have started using funds from this year’s budget in January, but allocations have not been passed.
The confrontations over the decades between groups that support independence and those backing unification with China are meaningless, and the TPP takes the middle road, he said.
Asked about plans for next years’ local elections, Ko said that the TPP, which formed in 2019, is still a new political entity and has just established its Kaohsiung office, so it still needs time to convey its ideas to the people.
The Kaohsiung mayoral election is a single-seat, single-vote system, so it would be difficult for a small party to win, Jang said, adding that the office would focus on councilor seats next year.
The establishment of the office symbolizes the TPP taking root in Kaohsiung and forming a voter service system from the Legislative Yuan to city councils, he said, adding that the primary goal is to win at least three city councilor seats, allowing the formation of a party caucus.
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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