The Green Party Taiwan called for public support yesterday for the three candidates whom it has nominated for the year-end Taipei City Council election.
The three candidates yesterday received a collective endorsement from other environment advocacy groups.
"The difference between candidates from the Green Party and those of other parties is that they are essentially doing the same thing -- whether or not they are elected," said Robin Winkler, chairman of Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association.
Winkler added that the candidates' participation will bring different perspectives and ideas to Taiwan's political scene.
Liao Pen-chuan (廖本全), representative from the Taiwan Academy of Ecology, said the so-called "third force" -- a term recently created by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) -- should not refer to a recombination of politicians and power.
"Rather, it should refer to all those who recognize and show concern for the land and the people in Taiwan," Liao said, adding that more people need to rise up to jointly protect the environment.
Liao, who said that politicians nowadays are "all the same," added that the country needs a new kind of candidates.
Representing the Homemakers' Union and Foundation, chairman Chen Man-li (
While all three candidates represent the Green Party, each is concerned with different environmental issues.
Chang Hung-lin's (
Pan Han-shen (
Activist Linda Gail Arrigo, also a member of the Green Party's Central Executive Committee, said the party's candidates running for office this year possess backgrounds and qualifications that have been lacking in environmental protection groups.
"Supporting these candidates will give the Green Party an opportunity to supervise both the pan-blue and pan-green camps," Arrigo said.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have