The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday established a Kaohsiung chapter, with a pledge to win at least three city councilor seats in elections next year.
TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) doubles as the head of the chapter, which is headquartered on Sandao 2nd Road in Cianjhen District (前鎮).
It is also Jang’s service office.
Photo: Ko Yu-hao, Taipei Times
At a launch ceremony, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is also the TPP chairman, said that the party’s five legislators, including Jang, have been named “excellent lawmakers” in a Citizen Congress Watch report, showing that they have helped improve the performance of the Legislative Yuan.
However, in a country that claims to be under the rule of law, the government should take the lead in conforming to the law, Ko said, adding that state-owned enterprises should have started using funds from this year’s budget in January, but allocations have not been passed.
The confrontations over the decades between groups that support independence and those backing unification with China are meaningless, and the TPP takes the middle road, he said.
Asked about plans for next years’ local elections, Ko said that the TPP, which formed in 2019, is still a new political entity and has just established its Kaohsiung office, so it still needs time to convey its ideas to the people.
The Kaohsiung mayoral election is a single-seat, single-vote system, so it would be difficult for a small party to win, Jang said, adding that the office would focus on councilor seats next year.
The establishment of the office symbolizes the TPP taking root in Kaohsiung and forming a voter service system from the Legislative Yuan to city councils, he said, adding that the primary goal is to win at least three city councilor seats, allowing the formation of a party caucus.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS