The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday confirmed that party Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
The party, however, denied that Ma and the campaign initiator and former chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Shih Ming-teh (
"No plots were hatched during the meeting between Chairman Ma and Shih. Chairman Ma did not make any promises to anyone, either," KMT spokesman Huang Yu-chen (
PHOTO: CNA
Huang made the remark in response to a story in the Chinese-language Liberty Times yesterday, which claimed that Ma, who had previously said that he would not join or interfere with the campaign, met with Shih last Thursday and told the former DPP chairman that he had found a solution that would allow him to stage a sit-in protest 24 hours a day from Aug. 23 to Sept. 7.
The Taipei City Government's Bureau of Public Works' new construction department and Taipei City Police Department on Thursday granted Shih's camp permission to stage an around-the-clock sit-in protest in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard.
While declining to confirm his secret meeting with Shih, Ma yesterday insisted that he had never made any promises.
Meanwhile, a group of DPP lawmakers yesterday said Shih's anti-Chen campaign was driven by the KMT, and linked with fugitive tycoon Chen Yu-hao (
"I know that Shih met with Chen Yu-hao on July 26 in Thailand. They conspired to bring [President] Chen down," DPP Legislator Lin Kuo-ching (
Chen Yu-hao, former chairman of the Tuntex Group who had escaped to the US, is listed as one of Taiwan's 10 most wanted fugitives.
Chen Yu-hao has accused the president of accepting millions of dollars in illegal political donations during the campaign for the 2004 presidential election.
"As Chen [Yu-hao] now holds a Chinese passport and has a close relationship with China, we suspect China might be involved in Shih's anti-Chen campaign," Lin said.
In response, Shih's campaign spokeswoman Ho De-fen (
"Chen Yu-hao had made a political contribution to the DPP when Shih was chairman. It was just a meeting .... no big deal. Shih went to Thailand to gain a better understanding of mass movements, not to meet up with Chen Yu-hao," Ho said.
Ho also held a press conference, announcing that as of yesterday, its had raised almost NT$81 million (US$2.48 million) in funds. Former DPP chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) also led a group of former DPP members to show their support for Shih's campaign at the conference.
In a separate press conference held by Shih's camp yesterday, former lawmaker Wang Lie-ping (王麗萍) said: "We have received reliable reports that the pan-green camp is planning to assassinate"Shih.
In response, DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (
"They fabricated the news because it will be easier for [Shih's] camp to reach its goal of [raising NT$100 million (US$3.06 million) from 1 million people] come true," Gao said.
also see story:
Fair-weather allies deserve China
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS