KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The post was left vacant by KMT incumbent, Chang fu-hsiung (
"Basically both the KMT and the PFP had reached the conclusion to together nominate one candidate for the by-election in Hualien," PFP spokesman Hwang Yih-jiau (
He added that the meeting between Soong and Lien yesterday was just part of the alliance's routine meetings.
"However, to show our respect for Chang, the alliance will not announce our candidate till the end of this month, after Chang's funeral," Hwang said.
Chang was diagnosed with lung cancer late last year and had been undergoing chemotherapy at the Veteran's General Hospital since March.
He was rushed home last Sunday night from the National Taiwan University Hospital after his condition became critical. Chang died at home.
According to the Law on Local Government Systems (
Chang, who started his four-year tenure in December 2001, had 31 more months left before the end of his term.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun announced on Tuesday that Provincial Governor Fan Kuang-chun (范光群) will serve as acting commissioner of Hualien County until a new government chief is elected.
As both the pan-green and the pan-blue camps are vying for the vacant post, the by-election can be seen as a crucial skirmish for the KMT-PFP alliance in the run-up to next March's presidential election.
The by-election in Hualien will test the combined vote-pulling strength of the two opposition parties, which announced their alliance three months ago.
Yesterday's meeting took place at the KMT-owned Pate Building -- the alliance's designated campaign headquarters for next year's presidential election for which Lien and Soong will run on a single ticket.
Aside from issues concerning the Hualien County magistrate's election, Hwang said that other matters discussed during the meeting included extending the Legislative Yuan session in order to pass the NT$50 billion job-creation program proposed by the Cabinet.
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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