Chinese President Hu Jintao (
"I sincerely hope that the KMT and the [CCP], together with compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits [sic], will continue to promote the peaceful and steady development of cross-straits [sic] relations, and join hands to create a bright future for the Chinese nation," the government's official Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as telling Ma in a message of congratulation.
The message was sent to the KMT Central Committee and to Ma personally, the agency said.
The election win by the relatively young and charismatic Ma on Saturday paved the way for him to run for president in 2008.
Ma, 55, beat Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"The sole purpose for my joining the election is to improve the chance for the Chinese Nationalist Party to win the 2008 presidential polls. I hope all our people will unite to help KMT regain power in 2008," Ma told a news conference.
To improve Taiwan-China ties, Ma invited ex-KMT chairman Lien Chan (
Saturday's election was the first direct election for the chairmanship of the KMT, which ruled Taiwan for half a century until it lost the presidential polls in 2000 to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
KMT lost again to the DPP in last year's presidential election. Disillusioned with the KMT, some members left the party to form two splinter parties -- the People First Party (PFP) and the New Party (NP).
Ma, a former law professor and justice minister, is seen by many as a strong candidate for 2008. He opposes Taiwan's independence and has proposed shelving the debate over Taiwan's status, in order to seek economic cooperation with China.
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,
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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
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