Chao Shih-chiang (趙士強), a former general manager of the Taiwan Major League, yesterday announced his campaign for legislator in Taipei, giving the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) a high-profile recruit in the electoral battleground.
Chao, a former national baseball player who positions himself as a political outsider largely above partisan fighting, said he stands on the side of “professionalism” and stressed that sports fans and athletes needed a voice in the legislature.
“I have been the fourth batter, the strongest batter, my entire life. I believe that this [designation] isn’t easily given. Chiang should get ready,” he said about his upcoming election battle against incumbent Chiang Nai-shin (蔣乃辛) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The baseball superstar will become the first prominent DPP politician to seek Taipei’s Da-an District seat, a pan-blue stronghold that former KMT legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) vacated in 2009 after being found guilty of illegally holding dual Taiwan-US citizenship.
A by-election held later that year was won by Chiang, who led by almost 10,000 votes, about 10 percent of the total.
The DPP identified Chao early on as a possible contender who could provide the party with a much needed boost in the ratings, but Chao initially was reluctant.
Known in baseball circles as “Smiling George,” Chao said his hesitation had come after opposition from his family — who had expressed concern over his health.
“After two weeks of discussions they still aren’t very happy, but they will reluctantly support me,” he said while registering with the DPP as a party member in the morning. “For my family, it wasn’t a problem of pan-blue or pan-green, but whether the political road would become too tiring.”
Chao will be up against Chiang, a seven-term city councilor who remains hugely influential in the area. Chiang said he respected Chao’s decision to run, saying that it was still early in the race and that the final decision would rest with the voters.
DPP strategists think Chao’s addition to the party’s ranks will put the seat within the party’s grasp and add to the DPP’s momentum in Taipei, which went entirely to the KMT in 2008. Some strategists say that Chao’s appeal lay largely with undecided voters.
“Sport has no political divides,” DPP Taipei branch director Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said, adding that voters want to see a “legislator who can truly speak for athletes” and Taiwan’s sports industry. “Chao will appeal to both pan-blue and pan-green voters.”
Chao said that if elected, he would also focus on health and care of the elderly. He would also aim to increase the profile of Taiwanese athletes internationally, he said, stressing that these were some of his policies that the DPP had sided with.
“Personally, I have no so-called political color,” he added.
Chao’s recruitment comes as the DPP has been finalizing its legislative nomination list that is expected to be announced sometime near the end of next month. The latest round of confirmed candidates includes city councilors, a professor and an elementary school principal.
Incumbent legislator Lai Kun-cheng (賴坤成), who lost the DPP primary in Taitung County, will instead run in Hualien County, the party announced.
DPP spokesperson Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the legislator-at-large candidates would be chosen by a nine-member committee to be headed by DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) sometime before June 29.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
Tainan’s initiative to recruit digital nomads has resulted in several German, US and Vietnamese nationals applying to live and work in the city, the Tainan Research, Development and Evaluation Commission said yesterday. That marked the city as the first in the nation to attract digital nomads, following the launch of the program last month, it said. Although all applicants so far have used work visas or tourism visas instead of the special digital nomad permit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the city government believes that the latter would be needed eventually, the commission said. The digital nomads recruited by Tainan would work
RSS