Amid vote-buying accusations from the pan-blue camp, the legislature meets today to elect a new legislative speaker and deputy speaker.
The opposition alliance of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), People First Party (PFP) and the New Party yesterday vowed to impose disciplinary measures on party members who do not support incumbent Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday confirmed its support for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate, Legislator Ker Chien-ming (
PHOTO: CHOU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Ker will name his running mate today.
The Non-Partisan Solidarity Union yesterday said it would support the Wang-Chung ticket. TSU caucus whip Huang Tsung-yuan (
"The TSU's 12 lawmakers will cast their votes for Ker. Those refusing to toe the party line will receive the most severe punishment," Huang told reporters after a caucus meeting.
Citing media reports, KMT Chairman Lien Chan queried whether the DPP had been involved in vote-buying.
Rumors have circulated that the DPP offered bribes to opposition lawmakers to support the DPP ticket. KMT Legislator Lee Chuan-chiao (
Lee said his colleagues had heard that the DPP was attempting to bribe opposition lawmakers in order to secure an election victory for Ker, but he provided no evidence to back the allegations.
PFP Legislator Shen Chih-huei (沈智慧), who had expressed interest in running for deputy speaker and was rumored to be preparing to defy her party, yesterday visited Wang and Chung in a show of support.
"I'm afraid that if I don't come out now to show my support for them, the public will misunderstand me," she said. "It's clear enough who I'll vote for, since I'm here today."
New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (
"We don't have problems of discipline. All four of our lawmakers will join the KMT caucus and pave the way for a future merger of the KMT, the PFP and the New Party," he said at a press conference.
Except for Wu Cheng-tien (
Also see story:
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —