The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Electoral Strategy Committee yesterday recommended that the party recruit Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) to run for Taipei mayor and former minister of transportation and communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) to run for New Taipei City mayor in the local elections in November.
The DPP’s Central Executive Committee is expected to convene a meeting on Wednesday to approve both nominees, who are to campaign together at the party’s national congress on Sunday, sources said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who doubles as the DPP’s chairperson, yesterday said that she looked forward to seeing Chen and Lin fighting together to win the elections “with the goal of creating better cities and a better metropolitan area.”
Photo: Taipei Times
She said that Chen, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, has been leading medical personnel and disease prevention teams to overcome continuous challenges related to COVID-19 in the 903 days since the center was launched.
Being professional and communicative, he is capable of formulating and implementing policies, Tsai said, adding that the country’s capital needs his leadership to “show Taiwan’s power of kindness to the world through the future Taipei.”
Tsai said she and all the members of the strategy committee approve of Lin’s ability to lead the most populous city in Taiwan.
To lead New Taipei City requires a greater vision and determination, as the city is critical to the future development of Taiwan, “so Lin is the DPP’s strongest and most suitable candidate,” she said.
Chen yesterday issued a statement to thank Tsai and the committee for their trust, adding that he would do his best to take on the mission the party has given him.
Chen said Taipei is his home and he has deep feelings toward the city, as he “was born and raised here and lives here.”
He asked everyone to join him in the fight for Taipei’s future to “lead Taipei forward” and “make Taiwan and Taipei better.”
Lin yesterday thanked Tsai and DPP members for their support.
As a former minister and a former Taichung mayor, he said he would draw on his experience to govern the vast area with its huge population to “crank up the developing engine of northern Taiwan,” enabling New Taipei City to bring prosperity and growth to the region.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —