The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday opened its first regional office in Hsinchu as it seeks to spread national roots after winning its first seats in the Jan. 16 legislative elections.
NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said the party chose Hsinchu to open its first regional office, because it received the highest percentage of at-large legislative ballots from the city.
The office is to serve as a “civic platform” to help the party to cooperate with local residents and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help spread its ideas and recruit new members, he said.
Huang said a second wave of offices is to be established in Taipei, Taichung and Hualien, followed by a third wave in Tainan and Kaohsiung, as the party seeks to put down roots and “blossom everywhere” in the nation.
Party officials would also embark on a tour of southern Taiwan next month to report on the party’s work in the Legislative Yuan and meet with supporters in Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung, he added.
Despite the party’s “pan-green” stance, the NPP grassroots operatives have been concentrated almost exclusively in the northern and central electoral districts, where it fielded candidates prior to the elections.
After winning five seats in the elections, the party said that it would concentrate the political party subsidies it receives on building a nationwide organization.
Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智), the party’s former Hsinchu legislative candidate who is to head the local office, said that cooperating with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide services to voters would set it apart from ordinary party offices.
“What makes the NPP different is that we were originally organized by NGOs. Other than improving our local operation, we will also cooperate closely with NGOs,” he said, citing plans to provide free legal counsel in conjunction with the Judicial Reform Foundation, as well as plans to cooperate with Citizen Congress Watch to bring transparency to the local city council.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
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