Independent presidential candidate James Soong (
Liu, flanked by pro-Soong legislators, announced that he was throwing his support behind Soong.
"A while ago, when Soong led the race by a big margin, I was not interested in doing him an additional favor [by endorsing him]," said Liu, a legislator and long-time political faction leader in Taichung County. "Now that he is confronted with difficulty, I want to help him now as he did for me in the past."
Liu was apparently referring to support from Soong that helped him secure another term as speaker at the legislature in 1996.
The KMT said Liu's move was not unexpected, and the damage to the election campaign of its presidential candidate, Vice President Lien Chan (
"It is regrettable, but not something surprising," said KMT spokesperson Huang Hwei-chen (
But current legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Liu is expected to be expelled from the KMT, as were other KMT politicians who have already publicly endorsed Soong.
In Chiayi County yesterday afternoon, Soong said he was happy to hear the news.
Soong was there there to visit the parents of Liao Cheng-hao (
In addition to making a new allie, Soong yesterday also took a step to polish his image, tarnished by the recent financial scandal, by sending his lawyer, Huang Tung-hsiung (
Soong has claimed the money belonged to the KMT and that it was entrusted to him by President and KMT chairman Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to take care of late President Chiang Ching-kuo's (蔣經國) family and to conduct "special operations" for the party.
Lee and the KMT have denied the claim.
In a statement issued yesterday by his lawyer, Soong said: "If the court refuses to accept the deposit, I will entrust the money to a supervisory committee made up of lawyers, accountants, scholars and other trustworthy people to decide what to do with the funds."
If the court accepts the money, it will notify the president to come and collect it. If that fails, the court will wait for the conclusion of legal action before disbursing it to what it considers to be the rightful owners.
If no one comes forward within 10 years, the money will be put into national coffers. The court also has the right to refuse the money.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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