The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is preparing for November’s local elections by mobilizing party members to take on leadership and supporting roles in cities and electoral districts nationwide, party officials have said.
Among the DPP’s 61 incumbent legislators, seven have been nominated as city mayor or county commissioner candidates, party officials said.
In addition, 31 incumbent DPP legislators, along with independent legislators Freddy Lim (林昶佐) and Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書), have been tasked with other key roles, officials said.
Six of them would be taking on roles as campaign directors or managers outside of their electoral districts, as the DPP is mobilizing the whole party, and there are different strategies depending on the situation in each electoral district, they said.
The six are: DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘); legislators Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), Lai Ping-yu (賴品妤) and Wu Chi-ming (吳琪銘) from New Taipei City; and legislators-at-large Fan Yun (范雲) and Michelle Lin (林楚茵).
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), in her role as party chairperson, has issued a mandate mobilizing all party members, with Ker and Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) acting as lead campaign directors for several key contests. The former would be responsible for the Taoyuan-Hsinchu-Miaoli region, and the latter for the Yunlin-Chiayi-Nantou region, officials said.
Ten DPP legislators have joined the campaign team of former minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) in the Taipei mayoral race, and 11 would be in Lin Chia-lung’s (林佳龍) team for the New Taipei City mayoral race.
Two DPP legislators would be on Legislator Cheng Yun-peng’s (鄭運鵬) campaign team for the Taoyuan mayor election, while five would join Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) in the Taichung mayoral race, party officials said.
Two legislators would be on Hsu Ting-chen’s (徐定禎) team for the Miaoli County commissioner contest, while Huang Hsiu-fang’s team (黃秀芳) features three legislators for the Changhua County commissioner race, while Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) has four legislators for the Yunlin County commissioner race.
Two indigenous DPP legislators, Chen Ying (陳瑩) and Saidhai Tahovecahe, would be the main campaign directors in their respective lowland and highland indigenous electoral districts.
Other DPP legislators-at-large would be responsible for directing the campaigns for specific social groups, including Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源), who would be in charge of supporting groups from the medical profession, and Lo Mei-ling (羅美玲), who would focus immigrants who have become naturalized citizens.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over