Former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) is said to be considering running for party chairperson after Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Tuesday said that he “has no intention” of joining the race.
As of press time yesterday, no one had registered for the Jan. 6 election. Today is the last day for candidates to register for the race.
Chen, who resigned from the legislature to run for Kaohsiung mayor, yesterday morning told reporters that while he must reflect on his election defeat, he also believes that every member is obliged to help the party through difficult times.
Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
As a member, he would “do his best to help” the party “with any task, anytime,” he said, adding that he would tell the public when he decides.
The party needs someone with integrity and a warm personality to overcome the “cold snap,” DPP Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) said, referring to the media frenzy over Kaohsiung mayor-elect Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), whose eponymous “Han tide” (hanliu, 韓流) popularity wave has come to be known as the “cold snap” (hanliu, 寒流) .
Chen has a natural and warm personality, and is someone who can take on the responsibility of chairperson, Hsu added.
Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) stepped down as chairperson last month after the DPP suffered losses in the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections, speculation has mounted about who would replace her. Suggestions include include Lin, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), DPP acting chairperson and Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) and Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君).
Lin Chia-lung initially said that he was “willing to take on the responsibility,” but on Tuesday said he has no intention of joining the election and would back capable members to run for chairperson.
Cheng Wen-tsan, Lin Chih-chien and Lin Yu-chang have said they have no plans to run, while Cheng Li-chiun decided not to register after gauging responses from other party members.
Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) is the only party member to have publicly voiced his interest.
You, who announced his decision on Wednesday, said that he would register after he has collected enough money to meet the election deposit requirement of NT$1.5 million (US$48,622).
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
‘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
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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS