Amid public anger over the disqualification of Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) at the Asian Games in China, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said it will voice its support for Yang in tomorrow’s rally in Taipei City, which is aimed at boosting support for Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) re-election bid ahead of the Nov. 27 elections.
The KMT’s announcement yesterday attracted criticism from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who -accused the KMT of exploiting the incident.
“The KMT has not done much to defend our athletes in the past and it should not make use of them now for their own gains,” Su said.
The KMT has been indecisive about the theme of tomorrow’s march. It had originally planned to hold the event along the lines of a traditional political rally to consolidate pan-blue support for Hau. However, the sizable number of swing voters has prompted the party to play down the political implications and it changed the rally to what is described as “a carnival-like march.”
The party had added anti-corruption and judicial reform as motifs for the event following the Nov. 5 acquittal of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in a corruption case, but later dropped the politically charged theme after Chen was sentenced to 11 yeas in another corruption case.
KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) yesterday dismissed Su’s allegation over the political motive behind the latest theme of its rally and said the DPP should refrain from exploiting the issue.
“The theme of the rally has never changed. All the things that Taipei residents support can be included in the march and we believe that Taipei residents will join us to defend Yang’s rights,” King said when announcing the latest motif of the march at a press conference.
Hau, dressed up as a pilot and standing in front of a model plane, said the incident reaffirmed the city government’s determination to apply for the hosting rights of the next Asian Games to create a fair environment for local athletes.
“Sunday’s march is being organized to make Taipei more open and internationalized and we welcome all residents, whether they are pro-blue or pro-green, to join us and walk for the city’s future,” he said.
Titled “A Walk for Taipei — Taipei Flies High,” the march will begin at Taipei City Hall at 2:30pm tomorrow and end at the East (Jingfu) Gate (景福門) in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, where a campaign party will be held from 6pm.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
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