Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday hit out at former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who on Saturday called on the public to reject KMT candidates in November’s special municipality elections and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in the 2012 presidential poll.
“Many people say they love Taiwan, but what is more important is how they demonstrate their love,” Wu said. “To love Taiwan is not only a slogan. They must do so soberly.”
On Saturday Lee said that the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) was a scheme to form a “one China market.” He said it would suck up Taiwan’s capital, manpower and skills before swallowing up the nation, calling on the public to use their votes to punish Ma.
Elections for the heads of five special municipalities will take place on Nov. 27 in Taipei City, Sinbei City (the upgraded Taipei County), Greater Taichung (a merger of Taichung City and Taichung County), Greater Tainan (a merger of Tainan City and Tainan County) and Greater Kaohsiung (a merger of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County).
On the election in the capital, Wu yesterday said Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of the KMT and his opponent, the DPP’s Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), were neck and neck but emphasized that many things could yet happen before the vote.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday agreed to serve as chief campaign supervisor for KMT candidate for the Greater Kaohsiung election, Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順).
Wang, who had turned down several invitations to become Huang’s campaign chairman, yesterday said he was still not suitable for that position, mainly because of his tight schedule.
As Huang’s chief campaign supervisor, Wang said he would do his best to stump for Huang and seek maximum support for her.
Citing the example of the legislative election in 2008, Wang said “there was room for Huang to win” in the November election if the party could muster enough support and unite all its local factions.
Huang secured more than 58 percent of the votes in Kaohsiung’s First Constituency, convincingly beating her DPP opponent by more than 17 percent.
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 —