Weighing in on the controversial disqualification of Asian Games contender Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Sinbei City mayoral candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday announced his support for the creation of a new taekwondo training center.
Chu said in a statement that Taiwan needed to better equip its athletes to give them more determination in “beating the Korean team” in international sporting events.
“We are all behind Yang because of the injustice she was suffered,” he said in the statement. “This is why we need to better support and train the abilities of our athletes … by creating a large taekwondo -training center in northern Taiwan.”
Chu’s announcement came after Yang’s father, Yang Chin-hsing (楊進興), a resident of Taipei County was found to have attended a campaign rally for Chu’s opponent, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the previous night.
Tsai’s campaign officials said the meeting was not planned in advance.
“He stood close to the stage and [you can see] he cares very much about this election,” Tsai said.
While the athlete’s father stopped short of confirming that he supported the DPP candidate, Tsai said she believed “this was probably why he came to the campaign rally.”
Downplaying the encounter’s possible effect on Saturday’s election, officials at Chu’s campaign released photographs also confirming that Yang Chin-hsing’s father had also met the KMT candidate on Saturday, after Chu paid a visit to the Yang family home in Yingge Township (鶯歌).
“As I’ve always said, this controversy exceeds politics and both parties, regardless of color, should support our Yang Shu-chun,” Chu said about the meeting.
Yang Shu-chun’s father inadvertently found himself in the media spotlight after he told a call-in TV program on Wednesday that he could not accept his daughter’s sudden disqualification from the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
At the time, he heavily criticized Sports Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chen Hsien-chung (陳顯宗), who told him to “swallow the ruling” after World Taekwondo Federation officials said Yang Shu-chun had illegally attached extra sensory pads on her socks. That ruling is now under dispute after video evidence confirmed that she had taken the two pads off prior to the match.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
RSS