Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
"There is no violence in my family," Lien answered briefly as reporters asked for his comment on the report.
Lien yesterday published a new book amid spiraling rumors of his wife-beating, triggered by a report in the latest issue of Next magazine.
Confronted with a letter the magazine claimed had been written by his daughter, Lien Hui-hsin (連惠心), to complain about her father beating his wife, Lien Fang Yu (連方瑀), Lien Chan refused to respond to details in the letter.
Lien's book, Only Changes Can Bring Hope, illustrates the KMT presidential candidate's models of national leaders. The eight-chapter book, Lien said, explained how he planned to solve the problems facing the country.
After conversations with grassroots supporters over the past few years, Lien said he analyzed problems generated during the course of Taiwan's democratization.
"I also mapped out the goals Taiwan should achieve," he said.
Also covering his observation of changes and developments in international politics over the years, Lien said he would rule the country by three principles he coined if elected -- "the Principle of the New Taiwanese, the Principle of New Development and the Principle of New Cooperation."
Based on the three principles, the KMT presidential hopeful promised to create "clean politics, a vibrant economy, a just society, win-win cross-strait policies and an efficient government" for the Taiwanese people.
"I hope President Chen Shui-bian (
"The problems Taiwan is facing now were all caused by Chen's government." he said.
Attacking Chen's "self-confining" ideology and "old-fashioned" ideas, Lien said Taiwan underwent significant changes since his rival took power four years ago.
"Unfortunately, these changes only led Taiwan in the wrong direction," he said.
Taiwan's politics, economy and society have all deteriorated as a result of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government's administration, Lien said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow