At a ceremony marking the party's relocation to a smaller headquarters, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged party members to endure current hardships for the sake of accomplishing the KMT's ambition of regaining the reins of government.
Likening President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to Yuan Shih-kai (袁世凱), a warlord in the early 1900s who overthrew the Republic of China and declared himself emperor, Ma said it is time for the KMT's rebirth through reform.
"As a democratic political party, the KMT needs to observe social trends and listen to public opinion ? The relocation of KMT headquarters is the party's first step to becoming a clean party with ideals," Ma said yesterday during the party's housewarming celebration for its new headquarters.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The party sold its headquarters on Zhongshan S Road to Evergreen Corp for NT$2.3 billion (US$70 million) in March and moved to the current site on Bade Road on Monday.
Ma said moving to the new headquarters illustrated the KMT's resolve for reform and for meeting office by reducing expenditures. The new premises' annual maintenance fees of NT$8 million are one-fifth of the maintenance fees at the old residence (NT$40 million).
During the long period in which the party governed Taiwan, the headquarters once housed around 4,000 party workers. After the KMT lost power in 2000, the party began to downsize. There will only be about 120 party workers left when the KMT moves to its new building on Bade Road.
Echoing Ma's remarks, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) called on KMT members to follow Ma's leadership to win back power from the DPP in 2008.
"Since Chairman Ma has taken over the chairmanship, he has made the KMT a small but strong party," Wang said yesterday at the party function. "Now we all share a common goal of winning back government in 2008. Let's all support Chairman Ma to reach this goal."
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