|
Former president backs Hsu for Tainan
By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Apr 23, 2010, Page 3
Former Presidential Office secretary-general
Mark Chen, center, listens to Tainan City Councilor Wang Ding-yu of the
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), right, during a press conference in Tainan
yesterday.
PHOTO: CNA
Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday threw his support behind Tainan
Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財), who is seeking re-election in the new Greater Tainan
municipality — a merger of Tainan City and Tainan County — in November.
Chen said in a statement issued by his office that he was happy to endorse Hsu
based on their long-standing friendship. Chen also urged those who shared his
ideals to support Hsu.
Five Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians have announced bids for the
party’s nomination for the Tainan election — Hsu, Tainan County Commissioner Su
Huan-chih (蘇煥智) and legislators Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅), William Lai (賴清德) and Yeh
Yi-ching (葉宜津).
The party plans to announce its nominees for the five special municipality
elections next month.
Elections for the heads of special municipalities will take place on Nov. 27 in
Taipei City, Sinbei City (新北市, the upgraded Taipei County), Greater Taichung (a
merger of Taichung City and Taichung County), Greater Kaohsiung (a merger of
Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County) and Greater Tainan.
With the exception of Greater Tainan, Chen said he had no intention to back any
particular individual in the other four municipalities.
Meanwhile, former Presidential Office secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山) said
yesterday that he would establish a support group in Tainan today to back the
former president and to work to help the DPP win the local election.
The group will be the third of its kind after the first was established in
Kaohsiung in February and the second in Taipei last month. A fourth will be
created in Taichung next month, he said.
Mark Chen, who will serve as the convenor of the group in Tainan, said the
former president’s legal case was not a judicial issue, but a political one. The
club has been formed because the judiciary is unfair and unjust, he said.
Mark Chen also criticized the government for turning a deaf ear on opposition to
a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) it intends to sign
with Beijing.
Mark Chen said he hoped the public would realize that China is seeking to
gradually annex Taiwan using economic means and he urged Taiwanese to seriously
think about what path the country should take to ensure a better future.
|
