Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), who was recently sentenced to three months in jail for perjury, yesterday announced his decision to run in the January legislative elections.
“Chen Chih-chung will not be absent from the legislative election in the district of Cianjhen [前鎮] and Siaogang [小港],” he told supporters outside his office in Kao-hsiung yesterday morning.
Chen Chih-chung’s participation in Greater Kaohsiung’s ninth district as an independent candidate would make the election a three-way race and could take support away from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Kuo Wen-cheng (郭玟成).
Photo: CNA
Chen Chih-chung’s position as an independent Greater Kaohsiung councilor was annulled late last month after the Supreme Court found him guilty of perjury, a verdict he said amounted to political persecution.
There has been speculation that Chen Chih-chung’s wife, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), might take his place in the election if he had to serve jail time.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office said on Monday that Chen Chih-chung could apply to perform community service instead of serving time, which makes it possible for him to complete the mandated community service program in time to register for the legislative elections.
Speaking to supporters yesterday, Chen Chih-chung said he was trying to come up with a strategy that would benefit him as well as the pan-green camp.
It could be a difficult goal as Chen Chih-chung and the DPP share the same support base.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正) will run in the same constituency.
A DPP source familiar with Kaohsiung politics said Kuo currently enjoys a comfortable lead over Lin of between 10,000 and 20,000 votes. However, if Kuo or Chen Chih-chung finish with less than 10,000 votes, the other candidate could still garner enough votes to defeat Lin, the source said.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Kuo said that although the district had long been a DPP stronghold “it can’t afford internal divisions.”
The DPP has been trying to talk Chen Chih-chung out of running in the election and will continue to do so, DPP spokesman Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said.
Chuang called for Chen Chih-chung to “look at the big picture” and make sure that pan-green camp supporters are not faced with the “painful dilemma” of choosing between Chen Chih-chung and Kuo.
“I say that because a KMT victory in the district would be even more painful for green camp supporters to take,” Chuang said.
Chen Chih-chung’s participation in the election would definitely affect the DPP, party spokesman Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成) said. However, the party was unlikely to ask Kuo to stand down as the DPP’s nomination procedures have already been finalized, she added.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS