Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislators yesterday denied that former president Lee Teng-hui (
The legislators made the remarks in response to a story run by the local Chinese language newspaper, the China Times, which said that Lee told Presidential Office Secretary-General Mark Chen (
TSU Legislator Ho Min-hao (
"There have been a series of rumors and speculation implying that the relationship between former president Lee and President Chen has deteriorated sharply, because the TSU cast invalid votes on the recall motion. But I can say those rumors are not true," Ho said.
Ho said that he suspected the pan-blue camp had chosen to spread the rumor now because the TSU and DPP were having problems coordinating their campaigns for the year-end elections, and so it's a vulnerable time.
"Former president Lee only cares about whether a localized regime will continue [in power]. He does not care about the people who are trying to cause trouble between him and the president," Ho said.
Meanwhile, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, who met Lee before the recall vote, yesterday was upbeat on relations between Chen and Lee, saying that it was not a surprise for two people to have different opinions but that he did not think there would be problems regarding DPP-TSU cooperation.
"Even husband and wife have different views. It is unavoidable for Chen and Lee to have diverse opinions," Yu said. "But as far as I know, the two presidents have good interaction and have the same goal: to make Taiwan better. The cooperation between the two parties is completely fine."
Yu added that the DPP was now negotiating with TSU leaders about coordinating their strategies for the Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
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