Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) yesterday accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of failing to develop Hualien County while in power, as he stepped up the campaign for the party’s candidate in the Feb. 27 Hualien legislative by-election.
King condemned DPP candidate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) for defending former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) during his eight years in office and asked her to define the developments that the former DPP government had brought to Hualien.
APOLOGY
“Hsiao owes Taiwanese an apology for defending Chen and saying so many good things about him in the past,” King said in Hualien while campaigning for KMT candidate Wang Ting-sheng (王廷升).
King said the KMT would not attack Hsiao for not being a Hualien native, but Hsiao should explain to the public how much she or the former DPP government had done for the county.
Hoping to grab all four seats in the legislative by-elections, the KMT will continue its campaign efforts during the Lunar New Year holiday, which starts tomorrow.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will visit Hsinchu County today and promote party unity by hosting a dinner banquet with party candidate Cheng Yong-tang (鄭永堂), Hsinchu County Commissioner Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳) and Hsinchu County Speaker Chang Pi-ching (張碧琴), who left the party for an unsuccessful run for county commissioner in December.
Ma will visit Hsinchu County to campaign for Cheng again on Monday and will also tour Taoyuan and Hualien counties during the holidays as part of a last-minute campaign effort before the by-election, the KMT said.
VICTORY
Ma has instructed all members to resolve party splits and seek victories in all four counties to boost party momentum after it lost all three seats in the previous round of legislative by-elections last month.
King said the party would start the nomination process for December’s special municipality elections after the legislative by-election later this month. He said in an interview with TVBS on Wednesday night that the KMT would consider itself the victor in the year-end elections if it won three municipalities.
The special municipality elections will be held in Taipei City, Kaohsiung City, Taichung, Tainan and Taipei County.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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