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.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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