Controversial Democratic Pro-gressive Party (DPP) Legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (
Shen was speaking during the launch of his book Always Upbeat: The Elated Life of an Outspoken Man yesterday. He suggests in the book that although he has suffered from myocardial infarction, his abilities would be not be beneath those of his competitors in any mayoral race.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Shen did not explicitly say that he would run for mayor, but he did dismiss speculation about the state of his health in the book.
"Citizens of Taipei City, are you casting votes based on a candidate's electrocardiogram and ultrasound or his capabilities?" he writes.
He expressed confidence in the way he had handled a dispute with TV talkshow host Wang Ben-hu (汪笨湖) in recent weeks by saying that his actions would be judged by voters in his Taipei electorate in December's legislative election.
"I will minimize my campaign activities, and would those DPP supporters who still cannot forgive me after reading this book please transfer their votes to other DPP candidates in my constituency," Shen said.
Shen also recited a poem he wrote recently to say that he had turned cold toward politics and the recent spat with Wang that had resulted in daily tit-for-tat attacks in the media.
"The heart is dead/The blood has turned cold/I cannot cure Mother Taiwan's illness/I don't want to either/Wave goodbye to the life which had been "always upbeat"/Spend the rest of my years "no longer upbeat"/Dying in action like Don Quixote/The horse hide to wrap my corpse is not ready/But I have already fallen," the poem read.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we