Disappointed by the recent party split over constitutional amendments, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday lectured KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for his "ineffective communication" with party legislators, and urged him to handle relationships with senior party members with more delicacy.
"Frankly speaking, your communication with party legislators needs to be improved ... former chairman Lien [Chan (連戰)] sees your achievement as his ... and [Legislative] Speaker Wang [Jin-pyng (
Wu dismissed media speculation that Lien, Wang and People First Party Chairman James Soong (
Until Tuesday night, when Ma seemed to have dissuaded some legislators from pursuing constitutional amendments, the issue had threatened to cause a split within the ranks of the KMT, as the chairman and party caucus failed to reach consensus on the issue.
Ma acknowledged his lack of communication with party legislators, and promised to create more opportunities for interaction.
"I have had little chance to get in touch with legislators due to the many elections that have taken place since I was elected KMT chairman. But I always welcome any legislator who wishes to see me, and we will create more opportunities like [Tuesday's] meeting to talk to party legislators," he said.
Ma met with Wang and 42 KMT legislators to discuss the issue of constitutional amendments on Tuesday night. He will meet another group of lawmakers tonight, and exchange ideas with legislators in different legislative committees in eight more meetings to be held this month.
The chairman dismissed the rumors that he had problematic relationships with Lien and Wang.
"[Lien and Wang] have rich experience in politics ... I think our channels of communication are very smooth," he said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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