Vice President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday presented young leaders who the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has nominated for next year’s legislative elections, including DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), a former Sunflower movement leader.
Lin is to contest Taipei’s Third Electoral District, which covers Zhongshan District (中山) and part of Songshan District (松山), after the nominations were approved at a meeting of the party’s central executive committee.
Lin joins other Sunflower movement figures — former New Power Party spokesman Wu Cheng (吳崢) and New Taipei City Councilor Tseng Po-yu (曾柏瑜) — as candidates after their nominations were announced last week.
Photo: CNA
Wu and Tseng are to represent the DPP in New Taipei City legislative elections.
Party officials said it was good to see young leaders joining the DPP.
The “new faces” would bring rejuvenation and many had a “baptism by fire” during the Sunflower movement, officials said, adding that the torch was being passed from older politicians to the next generation to further push for reform and deal with issues related to young people.
Besides Lin, the DPP yesterday approved Taipei City councilors Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) to run in the city’s fifth (Zhongzheng, 中正, and Wanhua, 萬華) and eighth electorate districts (Wenshan, 文山) respectively.
“Lin and Wu participated in activist movements when they were university students,” said Lai, who is the party’s presidential candidate. “They spent time and energy to advocate for societal issues, and show concern for Taiwan’s future.”
“In the past few years, they have worked at the local community level and served the party,” he said.
“I want to win this race so the legislature would have one more seat that embraces the global voice and has confidence in Taiwan’s future,” Lin said. “It would have one less seat for the opposition, which capitulates to China’s demands, and uses fear and intimidation to derail Taiwan’s progress.”
He is running to unseat Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇).
“In my recent visit to Washington, US officials said that they are very concerned about the choices Taiwanese will make next year, so we must share our message with the world about what we want for Taiwan’s future” Lin said. “Taiwan’s legislators are key to letting the international community hear our voice.”
Other DPP nominees included Kaohsiung City Councilor Lee Po-yi (李柏毅) for the city’s Third Electorate District (Nanzhih, 楠梓, and Zuoying, 左營); Taoyuan City Councilor Liu Jen-chao (劉仁照) for the city’s Fifth Electoral District (Pingjhen, 平鎮, and Longtan, 龍潭); and former Jhunan (竹南) mayor Kang Shih-ming (康世明) for Miaoli County’s First Electoral District.
The DPP has a “Grand Democracy Alliance” strategy to unite forward-thinking personalities and positive energy from society to safeguard Taiwan, reinforce democratic values, and boost for peace and prosperity, Lai said.
The strategy has a “Y+DPP” plan for nominating candidates, including some from outside the party, to contest “tough constituencies,” he said.
“Y” stands for “Generation Y” — Millennials — or people born between 1980 and 1996.
The outstanding talent nominated in these two rounds have a bright political future and would pose a challenge in tough constituencies that are traditionally KMT strongholds, he said.
“Our party cherishes these young leaders, as they have ideals of progress and the energy to help society develop and prosper,” he added.
The challenges they present are the driving force pushing the DPP forward, Lai said, adding that their vision is for a future that the DPP and the nation want.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
New Taipei City prosecutors have indicted a cram school teacher in Sinjhuang District (新莊) for allegedly soliciting sexual acts from female students under the age of 18 three times in exchange for cash payments. The man, surnamed Su (蘇), committed two offenses in 2023 and one last year, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The office in recent days indicted Su for contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), which prohibits "engaging in sexual intercourse or lewd acts with a minor over the age of 16, but under the age of 18 in exchange for
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS