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).
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3