As the campaign for next month's elections heats up, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday appealed to voters with what it called "positive solutions to serious problems in Taiwan" by announcing the 10 bills it vowed to pass into law.
The 10 bills, including the political party law (政黨法), the lobbying bill (遊說法), the administrative zoning law (行政區劃法), the fiscal discipline law (財政紀律法) and the Statute Governing the Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例), will be the KMT caucus' priority, according to the party.
"These 10 bills illustrate that, as the country's biggest oppos-ition party, the KMT does not only criticize the government or ex-pose abuse cases relentlessly, but also works hard to provide positive solutions to the country's problems," KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday, during a press conference to introduce the 10 bills.
Stressing the party's reform efforts, Ma said the political party law and the lobbying bill made a priority of regulating political contributions, lobbying and political parties. The fiscal discipline law, on the other hand, could prevent the government from wasting the country's money or acting corruptly, like he said it was now.
Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) and Taipei county commissioner candidate Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) attended the press conference to promote the administrative zoning law.
There are only two special municipalities in the country: Taipei City and Kaohsiung City. The KMT is promoting the merger of Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung cities and counties, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is against the idea.
Upon announcing each of the 10 main bills, Ma put a small pack of Chinese medicine into a big pot, a gesture to symbolize that the bills will work as the medicine for what the party called an "ill Taiwan." The party will continue its campaigning efforts and launch its print-version campaign ads today.
Meanwhile, in an attempted response to the KMT's parade that will be held on Nov. 26 to protest the DPP government's recent scandals, the DPP will launch a nationwide march on Nov. 27 to promote its local-elections campaign and denounce the KMT's accusations.
DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday announced the campaign activity, as decided by the central executive committee.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
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Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
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