KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
On Thursday, after the PFP mediator for party cooperation quit, Soong said he would meet with Lien to make a last-ditch effort to try to save shaky KMT-PFP plans to cooperate in the year-end elections.
Lien said through an aide that he and Soong have met frequently -- once every couple of weeks -- since the opposition alliance was formed.
"He is willing to meet [with James Soong] any time that is appropriate," the aide said. The KMT chairman failed to respond to numerous questions from reporters.
KMT spokesman Wang Chih-kang (
Originally, the KMT and PFP proposed jointly supporting a single joint candidate in the commissioner's races in six counties. So far, they've failed to agree on a single joint candidate.
Politicians at the local level, especially those from the KMT, object to the arrangement because it denies them the chance to run for public office.
With no PFP candidate winning KMT backing, PFP officials have publicly blamed the KMT for not working hard enough to coordinate with them.
Both parties nominated their own candidates for Taitung and Taipei Counties, and the KMT is ready to nominate its own candidate in Kaohsiung County, too.
PFP lawmaker Chung Shao-ho (
However, another KMT aspirant, Wu Kuang-hsun (吳光訓), insists on being a candidate in the race.
Highlighting the confusion, Chao Shou-po (
Chao said in the name of cooperation, the KMT plans to nominate Huang for Kaohsiung County commissioner, while asking the PFP's Chung to serve as his deputy.
If that plan fails to materialize, Chao says the KMT will nominate Wu and have Huang serve as deputy.
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
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
Air and rail traffic around Taiwan were disrupted today while power cuts occurred across the country as Typhoon Kong-rey, predicted to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon, continued edging closer to the country. A total of 241 passenger and cargo flights departing from or arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport were canceled today due to the typhoon, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. As of 9:30am, 109 inbound flights, 103 outbound flights and 29 cargo flights had been canceled, the company said. Taiwan Railway Corp also canceled all express trains on its Western Trunk Line, Eastern Trunk Line, South-Link Line and attached branches
Typhoon Kong-rey is forecast to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon and would move out to sea sometime overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 9am today, Kong-rey's outer rim was covering most of Taiwan except for the north. The storm's center was 110km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost tip, and moving northwest at 28kph. It was carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of 184kph, and gusts of up to 227kph, the CWA said. At a news conference this morning, CWA forecaster Chu Mei-lin (朱美霖) said Kong-rey is moving "extremely fast," and is expected to make landfall between