Supporters of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) yesterday gathered to stump for him yesterday, during which Chinese Production Party (中華生產黨) chairperson Lu Yuexiang (盧月香) revealed that she paid for China-based Taiwanese businesspeople’s flights to return to vote for the pan-blue camp during the 2008 presidential election.
The Chinese Production Party is formed of Chinese spouses married to Taiwanese nationals.
Lu, who has lived in Taiwan for 22 years, said that in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election — in which then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) ran against Democratic Progressive Party former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) — she not only helped fund the purchase of plane tickets for Taiwanese businesspeople in China who did not have enough money to return, but had also helped arrange for temporary workers to cover their jobs while they were away.
Photo: Kuo An-chia, Taipei Times
Lu said her move “touched the hearts” of about 8,000 China-based Taiwanese businesspeople who returned in 2008 to vote and brought her party more than 400 additional members.
As for China-based Taiwanese businesspeople with pan-green inclinations, Lu said she told them to “be virtuous and stay in China [and not come back to Taiwan to vote.]”
“The lies being spread about me receiving benefits from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] are false,” Lu said, adding that her party is not tied to the CCP and that her party works “for Taiwan and the continued peace across the Taiwan Strait.”
Lien left the event 25 minutes prior and so was not present when Lu made the remarks.
However, former Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) was present, attending in his capacity as the head of Lien’s supporters’ association.
Later yesterday, when asked to comment on Lu’s remarks, Lien said that he respected Lu and declined to comment further.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to clarify her earlier comments, Lu said that she had helped “two or three” Taiwanese businesspeople financially when they were down on their luck in 2008, and she has not bought plane tickets for China-based Taiwanese businesspeople to return to Taiwan this year.
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
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
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
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