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.
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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