Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) yesterday bid farewell to fellow lawmakers with a “graduation speech” at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Chen’s term is to end today after he on Saturday became the first member of the legislature to lose a recall vote.
Chen said he focused on “priorities to safeguard Taiwan, for Taiwan’s best interests and for Taiwan’s sovereignty.”
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
He said his accomplishments in the committee included coordinating with government agencies to ensure each soldier on duty receives a new mask each day, asking the Ministry of National Defense to expedite disease prevention measures at all units and calling for an intergovernmental “hybrid warfare center.”
Chen said he had pushed for “Taiwan” to be printed in larger letters on the cover of the nation’s passport.
“This has strengthened people’s identification with Taiwan,” he said.
The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Taichung chapter said that former DPP legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) would run as its candidate in the by-election.
Lin Min-lin (林敏霖), who heads the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Taichung chapter, said that former KMT legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恆), who had represented the district, declined to run, so the party is still deciding on who its candidate would be.
The Central Election Commission yesterday said that a by-election will be held on Jan 9 next year, while Chen would be barred from running for a seat in the legislature for the next four years.
Additional reporting by CNA
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