Three-term Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) yesterday said he would not seek re-election, citing the results of the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 29 last year in Keelung.
“Since the KMT lost last year’s mayoral campaign, as someone who took on a heavy role in campaigning, I should not only humbly listen to the choice of city residents, but should also take appropriate responsibility and make good my promise,” Hsieh wrote in a Facebook post, referring to his promise not to seek re-election if KMT mayoral candidate Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) lost.
Hsieh Kuo-liang said he would continue to help the KMT’s Keelung branch as a volunteer, leaving open the possibility for a campaign role in the next legislative election in January next year.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) beat Hsieh Li-kung in the city, which had long been viewed as a KMT stronghold.
However, a corruption scandal that led to a split in the KMT camp, former Keelung city council speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰) ran as an independent candidate after he was detained on suspicion of violating the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Lin won the mayor’s race with an increase of 10 percentage points over his previous campaign in 2012, when he ran against Hsieh Kuo-liang for Keelung’s single legislative seat.
Hsieh Kuo-liang’s announcement signals the end to a 10-year legislative career that saw him serve as the KMT caucus whip as well as cochairman of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
Hsieh, who holds a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and renounced his US citizenship to serve as a legislator, is the scion of a prominent Keelung political family.
The family also owns a number of businesses and schools such as the Sangong Group, the Second Credit Cooperative of Keelung and the Keelung Er Xin High School.
When he was first elected in 2004 on the People’s First Party’s (PFP) ticket, he became the youngest member of the legislature. He switched allegiance to the KMT in 2006.
DPP Keelung branch chairman Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) yesterday said that he will campaign for the party’s nomination for the seat. Lawyer Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) announced her own candidacy for the nomination earlier this month.
Rumored pan-blue candidates include Hsieh Li-kung, KMT Legislator Hsu Shao-ping’s (徐少萍) son, Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥), and KMT Keelung City Councilor Han Liang-chi (韓良圻), as well as Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) of the PFP, who represented the city in the Legislative Yuan for three consecutive terms.
Additional reporting by Yu Chao-fu
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
RSS