Richard Chang (張承中), husband of pop singer Selina Jen (任家萱), yesterday announced on Facebook that he will run as an independent legislative candidate in Taipei’s seventh electoral district, becoming the fifth person to enter the race.
The constituency is comprised of Xinyi District (信義) and the southern part of Songshan District (松山).
Chang, a lawyer, said he is “gratified” that friends have urged him to run, including prominent members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the People First Party.
Chang said he is “running to get things done,” and would not “join a party for the sake of running.”
“I am not pan-blue, pan-green or pan-orange, but a force for the center,” he said.
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰), who is seeking re-election in the seventh district, said that everyone has a right to participate in elections in a democracy and he had “no special thoughts” about Chang’s candidacy.
His own record of public service and achievements in “fighting against the establishment” are well known, Tsai said.
Green Party Taiwan and Social Democratic Party Alliance legislative candidate Lu Hsin-chieh (呂欣潔) questioned Chang’s ability to address economic issues such as income inequality, inadequate protection of workers’ rights, youth impoverishment and the costs of raising a family, given that according to Chang’s own announcement he is wealthy enough to own property in Xinyi, one of Taipei’s most expensive districts.
The other candidates in the seventh district race are Taiwan Independence Party member Huang Ching-yuan (黃清原) and former KMT Taipei city councilor Yang Shih-chiu (楊實秋), who was expelled from the KMT in July over comments he made about the central government and is running as an independent.
DPP Taipei chapter head Cheng-kuo (黃承國) said the DPP considers the district a “no-nomination” race in order to give “third-force” candidates room to run.
The DPP would prefer to see non-aligned groups join forces and nominate a single candidate before it considers making one of the candidates its official partner, Huang said.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
RSS