The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) finalized its nominations for legislators in the northern Taipei constituency with the conclusion of a public opinion poll yesterday.
The competitive area saw nine contestants battle for five nomination slots. The nominations were decided with party member votes counting for 30 percentof the decision and public opinion polls counting for 70 percent.
The five candidates who will be nominated are Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), Lin Chung-mo (林重謨), Taipei City Councilor Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), former Taipei City Councilor Kao Chien-chih (高建智) and former director of the DPP communications department, Phoenix Cheng (鄭運鵬).
The northern Taipei constituency consists of six districts -- Shihlin, Peitou, Sungshan, Hsinyi, Neihu and Nankang.
Among the five, Hsiao received the highest score in the opinion poll, with a support rate of 30.27 percent, followed by Cheng with 14.79 percent, Lin 14.11 percent, Hsu 11.14 percent and Kao 9.81 percent.
The competition for the nominations was intense, and was marked by fighting over factional endoresments
Cheng, who used to be a protege of Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) -- the leader of the Welfare State Alliance (福利國系) -- failed to win Hsieh's support in the primary. Hsieh chose to support the other two members of the faction: Hsu and Kao.
Without the backing of the faction, Cheng scored poorly in the party member vote.
But he did well in the public opinion poll and this secured his nomination.
He also won support from Justice Alliance Legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (
The New Tide Faction also suffered a setback in the northern Taipei constituency as Taipei City Legislator Lee Chien-chang (李建昌) was crowded out from the five safest nomination slots, finishing at No. 6.
The northern Taipei constituency will elect 10 legislators, and pan-blue competition is fierce, as many candidates in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party have signed up for their parties' primaries as well.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.