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).
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS