Former Tainan County commissioner and Taiwan Renewal Party convener Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) yesterday announced his bid for Taipei mayor in the Nov. 26 elections.
Su, who was Tainan County commissioner from 2001 to 2010, announced in 2018 that he would leave the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and run for Taipei mayor, but ended up running as an independent candidate for Tainan mayor, which he lost to current Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲).
Despite fierce opposition from his wife, Huang said he has a responsibility to “history and to the land,” and after hesitating for three months, decided to devote himself to the campaign.
Photo: CNA
Su presented his platform of government, aimed at solving the difficulties facing young people and the nation’s low birthrate.
Comparing himself to “Don Quixote,” Su said he would undertake the mission of speaking out for Taipei’s young residents.
“Taiwan should take more drastic measures against the lowest birthrate in the world,” he said, proposing to make Taipei the first city to provide full financial support for child-rearing until the age of six.
He proposed strategies to solve the housing problem, such as imposing an empty homes tax, making the rental market completely transparent, implementing rent control and prioritizing turning public land into social housing.
Taipei should take the lead in reviving Taiwan’s film industry by turning Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and nearby venues into a movie creative park, he said.
Following the example of Tokyo, London, Paris, Berlin and Seoul, Taipei should allow self-governance for its 12 districts, he said.
“Taipei needs a mayor who is willing to listen to the people and accept diversity,” he added.
With the nation’s two major political parties, and possibly the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), having nominated strong candidates for the position, Su said the votes he gets might be embarrassingly low.
However, he said he hoped his run would raise public awareness about the difficult position young Taiwanese are in and the low birthrate, which is a threat to national security.
In addition to Su, DPP candidate Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and lawyer Winifred Tung (童文薰) are vying for the Taipei mayoral seat.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) has signaled her intention to run, but has yet to officially declare her candidacy and whether she would run as an independent or represent the TPP.
Additional reporting by CNA
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS