President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday acknowledged his concerns about a split in the pan-blue camp over People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) participation in the presidential election, adding that negotiations with Soong and the PFP would continue.
In an interview on CTV’s political TV show Report to the Voters, Ma, seeking re-election in January as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, discussed Soong’s possible presidential bid with host Jaw Shao-kang (趙少康) and said the KMT was concerned about the possible impact of Soong running for the presidency because the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its candidate, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), could benefit from a split in the pan-blue camp.
“We are continuing our discussions with the PFP ... We should look at the big picture and avoid a spat between allies affecting the outcome of the election,” Ma said.
Soong declared his intention to join the presidential election in May and started a petition last month. He has previously said he would not join the race unless he collected 1 million signatures for his presidential petition, but later said he would join the presidential election if the number of signatures surpassed the legal threshold of 257,695.
Soong’s presidential bid has caused great concern in the KMT, especially because Ma has been polling neck-and-neck with the DPP’s Tsai.
Soong has been ignoring the KMT’s call for pan-blue unity and he said earlier this week that his petition had passed the legal threshold and he promised to make his candidacy official by sending the first batch of petitions to the Central Election Commission on Tuesday.
PFP spokesman Wu Kun-yu (吳崑玉) yesterday shrugged off Ma’s concerns, saying Soong wanted to participate in the presidential election because he wanted to respond to the public’s expectations.
“Chairman Soong is concerned about the nation’s future and he is looking at the big picture,” Wu said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
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 —
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
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS