An overwhelming majority of the people in Taiwan would support a probe into the alleged fraud linked to the confirmation vote for key government posts on June 21, according to a KMT opinion poll released yesterday.
The survey, conducted by the opposition party last Friday, indicated that over 80 percent of respondents believe that the Ministry of Justice should look into the matter.
The controversy surfaced last week, when Chang Po-ya (張博雅), whose nomination to be Examination Yuan vice president failed to win approval, accused some lawmakers of asking her aides for money in exchange for their votes.
The KMT legislative caucus, which had boycotted Chang's appointment by banning its 60-plus members from attending the vote, labelled the allegations "highly plausible."
"There is no smoke without fire," KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (
Huang said some people saw a senior DPP lawmaker roaming the legislative chamber with a checkbook during the vote on the appointment of Senior Presidential Adviser Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) to be Examination Yuan head.
Huang also said that all DPP legislators, as well as a few independents, had to display their ballots to senior colleagues before putting them into the ballot boxes to comply with a caucus order.
DPP Legislator Chou Po-lun (周伯倫), one of those assigned to oversee the voting, was reportedly overheard telling independent Legislator Chen Chin-ting (陳進丁) "the deal would be off" if he refused to display his ballot.
The KMT survey, based on a random telephone interview of 1,067 residents aged 20 and older, showed that 66 percent of respondents are aware of the controversy. Nearly 70 percent said vote-buying is a major problem. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
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