TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — TPP Taichung branch Chair Chen Ching-lung (陳清龍) clarified Sunday why former TPP Spokesperson Yang Pao-chen (楊寶楨) was absent during the party’s Saturday nomination event.
Yang previously claimed that if the party decided not to nominate her as its candidate, despite lacking a candidate in Taichung’s East and South districts, she might break away from the party and run on her own. During the Saturday event, TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) avoided directly commenting on Yang, stressing that the candidates on stage were the real focus, per UDN.
TPP Taichung City Councilor Chiang Ho-shu (江和樹), who previously supported Yang’s potential bid, directly criticized Yang after the event, per ETtoday. He stressed that Yang could have hashed out the misunderstanding with Huang and Chen, but she was not willing to show up.
Yang responded, noting that Chen advised her not to attend, and she respected his arrangements, per Mirror Media. She also criticized party leadership for what she believed to be the party’s inaction concerning verbal abuse she received from the party’s city council candidates.
Chen corroborated Yang’s claim regarding his advice, adding that Yang would be meeting him in the near future to discuss her bid, per Liberty Times. He also pointed out that there are six other Taichung City Council seats that party members have expressed interest in running for, per China Times.
Chen added that if the party decides to nominate more candidates for city council seats, another nomination event will be held for them.
While the public speculated that Yang might run for the Taipei City Council seat she failed to capture in 2022, former TPP Deputy Secretary-General Osmar Hsu (許甫) was nominated to run for the seat instead, per Liberty Times. Huang reportedly chose Hsu, husband of TPP Legislative Caucus Leader Chen Chih-han (陳智菡), to run for the seat.
