The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has drawn criticism over its decision to not nominate a candidate for Hsinchu County commissioner, choosing instead to support a former commissioner who was expelled from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for running without the party’s nomination.
“In order to win the election, the DPP has chosen to work with a local political faction,” Liao Pen-chuan (廖本全), an associate professor at National Taipei University’s Department of Real Estate and Built Environment, said yesterday.
“However, local factions are only concerned about their own interests — how to maximize their interests, divide the [spoils] and further expand their political influence — and do not care about democracy or rule of law,” he said.
Photo: Huang Mei-chu, Taipei Times
“Therefore, this kind of collaboration is only about winning the election and interests; it would not bring anything fruitful for our democracy — just rot,” the long-time activist said.
Liao was referring to a decision by the DPP’s Central Standing Committee on Wednesday to not nominate a candidate for the Hsinchu County commissioner election on Nov. 29. Instead, it has chosen to collaborate with former Hsinchu County commissioner Cheng Yung-chin (鄭永金), who was expelled from the KMT because he insisted on running despite the party nominating the incumbent commissioner, Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳), for re-election.
Former DPP Hsinchu County commissioner Lin Kuang-hua (林光華), who was defeated by Cheng in his 2001 re-election bid, and again lost to Cheng in 2005, has also agreed to help Cheng in his bid, while Cheng promised to campaign for DPP candidates for the county council.
A voter in Jhubei City (竹北), Hsinchu County, surnamed Huang (黃), also criticized the DPP’s decision.
“The DPP was very critical of the KMT in Hsinchu County, especially when Cheng was the commissioner, so I don’t understand the logic behind its collaboration with the KMT now,” Huang said. “But I’m not surprised at all, this is how politicians and political parties are.”
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
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
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
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