The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is preparing for November’s local elections by mobilizing party members to take on leadership and supporting roles in cities and electoral districts nationwide, party officials have said.
Among the DPP’s 61 incumbent legislators, seven have been nominated as city mayor or county commissioner candidates, party officials said.
In addition, 31 incumbent DPP legislators, along with independent legislators Freddy Lim (林昶佐) and Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書), have been tasked with other key roles, officials said.
Six of them would be taking on roles as campaign directors or managers outside of their electoral districts, as the DPP is mobilizing the whole party, and there are different strategies depending on the situation in each electoral district, they said.
The six are: DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘); legislators Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), Lai Ping-yu (賴品妤) and Wu Chi-ming (吳琪銘) from New Taipei City; and legislators-at-large Fan Yun (范雲) and Michelle Lin (林楚茵).
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), in her role as party chairperson, has issued a mandate mobilizing all party members, with Ker and Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) acting as lead campaign directors for several key contests. The former would be responsible for the Taoyuan-Hsinchu-Miaoli region, and the latter for the Yunlin-Chiayi-Nantou region, officials said.
Ten DPP legislators have joined the campaign team of former minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) in the Taipei mayoral race, and 11 would be in Lin Chia-lung’s (林佳龍) team for the New Taipei City mayoral race.
Two DPP legislators would be on Legislator Cheng Yun-peng’s (鄭運鵬) campaign team for the Taoyuan mayor election, while five would join Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) in the Taichung mayoral race, party officials said.
Two legislators would be on Hsu Ting-chen’s (徐定禎) team for the Miaoli County commissioner contest, while Huang Hsiu-fang’s team (黃秀芳) features three legislators for the Changhua County commissioner race, while Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) has four legislators for the Yunlin County commissioner race.
Two indigenous DPP legislators, Chen Ying (陳瑩) and Saidhai Tahovecahe, would be the main campaign directors in their respective lowland and highland indigenous electoral districts.
Other DPP legislators-at-large would be responsible for directing the campaigns for specific social groups, including Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源), who would be in charge of supporting groups from the medical profession, and Lo Mei-ling (羅美玲), who would focus immigrants who have become naturalized citizens.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November