Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) yesterday said that he would not withdraw from the party to join the Taipei mayoral race even if the DPP decided not to nominate any candidate for the capital.
During a media interview on Monday, Yao was asked if he would withdraw from the DPP and run as an independent if the party decided not to nominate a candidate in favor of renewing an alliance with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
“It is a possibility,” Yao reportedly said at the time.
However, Yao yesterday said he did not say he would “withdraw from the party,” and that the reports were a media exaggeration.
He said he would spare no effort to seek the DPP’s nomination and that he, as a DPP member, is proud of the party.
“The DPP can no longer work with Ko on ‘Taiwanese values.’ Ko has [failed to address] the issue of Taiwanese sovereignty and public opinions, and he has framed cross-strait relations as a ‘family’ without prior negotiations [with the government], aligning himself with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) narrative,” Yao said.
He also accused Ko of banning a journalist from talking with his staff members due to an unfavorable report about the city government’s allegedly questionable practices in organizing this year’s Lantern Festival.
That, coupled with Ko’s requiring city government officials suspected of leaking information about the Taipei Dome to the media to take polygraph tests in 2016, is indicative of Ko’s disrespect for democracy and human rights, Yao said.
Ko does not represent the progressive values he boasts and the DPP should part ways with the independent mayor, Yao said.
In related news, political commentator Yao Li-ming (姚立明), Ko’s chief campaign executive director during the 2014 election, said that whether or not the DPP nominates Pasuya Yao, he was willing to lead his mayoral campaign if he decides to run.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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