The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday dismissed allegations of difficulties in its election campaign in southern cities and counties, but said the party would continue to focus on its campaign efforts in central and southern Taiwan.
The south, including Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung, have traditionally been strongholds for the pan-green camp. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is seeking re-election, is setting up his first southern campaign office in Greater Tainan to expand his support base in the south.
Leading the election campaign in Greater Tainan, local KMT heavyweight Huang Cheng-hsiung (黃正雄) said yesterday that grassroots supporters in the city were joining efforts to campaign for Ma and that the party would arrange for Ma and his running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), to make frequent visits to Greater Tainan and other parts of southern Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
Huang dismissed a report that quoted him as saying that the KMT was facing difficulties in the south and that local factions were reluctant to offer assistance in the presidential election campaign. He said party members in the south would work hard to attract more support for the KMT in the presidential and legislative elections.
“President Ma is putting a great deal of effort into southern Taiwan. Campaigning in Greater Tainan is not easy because of the merger of Tainan County and Tainan City, but we are still hoping that we can have a small lead over the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] in the city,” he said yesterday at the KMT headquarters.
In an interview with the Chinese-language China Times published yesterday, Huang was quoted as saying that local factions in Greater Tainan were reluctant to join the election campaign and that it would be difficult for Ma to repeat his victory in the city in the 2008 presidential election, in which he received 6,000 more votes in the former Tainan City than then-DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS