New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) on Thursday was elected as party chairwoman, replacing Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華), who resigned in the aftermath of the party’s poor performance in last year’s local elections.
Wang was elected by the party’s new 15-member decisionmaking committee, after all its members joined Chen in resigning.
Wang on Thursday said the election setback has not deterred the party’s hopes.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Wang is to assume the top post on March 1 for a two-year term.
Wang said the NPP’s losses last year should be considered a public rebuke requiring a post-election review along with bolstered efforts to regain public trust.
The NPP, Taiwan’s fourth-largest political party, formed in early 2015 and was elected to 16 seats on city and county councils in 2018. That number dropped to six last year.
The party last year received 0.61 percent of votes cast for county commissioners and mayors, and 1.56 percent of votes cast for city and county council seats.
As the presidential and legislative elections approach next year, Wang said she plans to push for reforms, including expanding the party’s social ties, building consensus within the party, proposing viable economic policies to improve people’s livelihoods and forming an election campaign team.
The NPP elected 15 new decisionmaking committee members on Feb. 12.
Among those elected were Chen, Wang and former NPP chairman Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智).
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said