The Jenn Lann Temple (鎮瀾宮) in Taichung’s Dajia District (大甲) yesterday became a hot spot for political campaigning by a couple of contenders for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmanship, as they laid out their plans for the party during their visits to the nation’s most famous Matsu temple.
Accompanied by temple vice chairman Cheng Ming-kun (鄭銘坤), former KMT vice chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢) arrived at 9am to pay homage to the goddess of the sea.
The KMT needs a leader with corporate experience as it weathers difficult times, Chan said, outlining how he helped Chi Mei Medical Center and vaccine maker Adimmune Corp (國光生技) get back on their feet when he led the two companies.
Photo: CNA
“Different challenges will surface at different stages and they have to be dealt with by different people. The most important tasks for the KMT right now are crisis management and making it more in-sync with society for it to regain the public’s support,” Chan said.
If he were elected party chairman on May 20, he would work toward representing the party in the 2020 presidential election, Chan said, adding that he would be willing to take a backseat should a better candidate emerge.
Having served as minister of the now-defunct department of health and policy adviser to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Chan resigned as KMT vice chairman earlier this month, reportedly due to his disapproval of KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) handling of the thorny party assets issue.
Hours later, KMT Vice Chairman and former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) arrived at the temple, accompanied by several high-profile politicians, including former Taichung mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), temple chairman Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), and scores of Taichung city councilors and local borough wardens.
Hau said he would not run for the presidency in 2020 if elected KMT chairman and would respect different opinions.
Hau said he intends to move the party toward collective leadership, facilitate integration between the KMT’s legislative caucus and local city and county council caucuses, and push for a generational change in the party.
“The most important goal is for the party to regain power and ensure its victory in the 2018 local elections and the 2020 presidential race,” Hau 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
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS