Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is also a vice chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), yesterday called on party members to support his bid for party chairman, while KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) remained silent amid speculation that he will attempt to retain his post.
Ma announced at a news conference that he had established a Web site (www.ma19.net) for the race, adding that budding candidates needed the signatures of 33,210 party members to run.
Ma said he hoped to see a large number of people support his candidacy, and that the signature drive would allow him to gauge the support he had drummed up after his travels around the nation in the last two months.
Signature collecting formally begins today, while candidate registration must be completed by June 8.
Ma's campaign office spokesman, Wu Yu-sheng (
A 30-second campaign ad was to be aired on cable TV news stations last night calling on Ma's supporters to sign up at his Web site or at signature collection stations around the country, Wu said.
Wu called on party representatives in cities and counties around the country to turn their service offices into collection stations for the Ma campaign.
Meanwhile, Legislative Speaker and KMT Vice Chairman Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang made the comments while meeting representatives from the Taipei chapter of Rotary International at the legislature yesterday.
Wang said the KMT is a "microcosm" of society and composed of people from all walks of life. The chairman should therefore be selected from among the grassroots and should be a skilled negotiator, he said.
But Wang also repeated his commitment that if Lien decided to seek another term, he would quit the race for the chairmanship.
"We should allow Mr. Lien to think about this and make his own mind up," he said.
Wang also said that he could not understand why a senior party member had accused party leaders of impeding democratic reform within the party.
"The spirit of democracy is diversity. If someone has made such an accusation, he has probably failed to comprehend the spirit of democracy," he said.
Wang was referring to remarks made on Monday by KMT Legislator Wu Den-yi (吳敦義).
Wu also said that Lien told him in person he would not seek another term as party chairman.
Ting Yuan-chao (
Arriving at KMT headquarters yesterday, Lien was tight-lipped when asked to comment on Wu's remark.
Wu later said he had received telephone calls on the matter and sensed concern from Lien's office. He said it was true that no one was entitled to speak on behalf of Lien other than Lien himself.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RSS