In a bid to attract more Hakka votes away from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) visited former Hualien County commissioner Wu Kuo-tung (吳國棟), a leading Hakka politician in his county, on Thursday night, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) sources said yesterday.
This was at least the second visit Chen has made to Wu during the past three months to overcome animosity generated during the Hualien County commissioner by-election last August.
During the campaign, Chen said Wu was "guilty of being involved with financial scandals," an accusation Wu angrily denied.
Wu, a former member of the KMT, ran an independent campaign after criticizing the party's nomination process as "not transparent and unfair."
Wu finished third in the by-election, well behind the KMT's Hsieh Shen-shan (
According to Council for Hakka Affairs Chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), who has also visited Wu several times since last September, Wu's 93-year-old mother was encouraging her son to support Chen in the presidential election.
The first meeting between Chen and Wu was in December at Wu's residence, and the president even sang a traditional Hakka song for Wu's mother, Yeh said. Wu subsequently turned down the KMT-People First Party's (PFP) offer to head the alliance's presidential campaign headquarters in Hualien County.
Political analysts say young voters, especially the 1.6 million who will have the right to vote for the first time, as well as Hakka people are the key to the final phase of the presidential campaign.
"Hakka voters, who were pro-pan-blue camp during past elections, are now moving to the DPP, while the young voters, who usually support the DPP, seem to be attracted by Lien Chan's (
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS