Former Taipei EasyCard Corp chairman Sean Lien (連勝文), who is scheduled to announce his bid to run in the Taipei mayoral election today, should disclose his relations with Beijing and whether he holds foreign nationality, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.
Lu is among five DPP contenders in the party’s primary for the election, scheduled for November this year, while Lien, one of the sons of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), is seen as the frontrunner among a number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hopefuls.
“I welcome Mr Lien’s bid in the election as a Taipei City resident and urge him against running his campaign with privilege and excessive campaign funds,” Lu said in a press release.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The Lien family is known for its wealth — which is scattered around Taiwan, China and other countries — and close relations with Beijing officials as the senior Lien, who also served as KMT chairman, has made extensive visits to China after his defeat in the presidential election in 2000.
Lu called for Sean Lien, as well as all aspirants in the mayoral election, to disclose information on whether they held or hold foreign nationality or permanent residence status, their foreign investments and assets, and their relations with Beijing.
With regard to relations with Beijing, all aspirants should disclose how many trips they have made to China, the persons they have met with and what the objectives were, Lu said.
Lu also questioned the ties between National Taiwan University Hospital physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), an independent in the race with close ties to the pan-green camp, and China, saying that Ko has to “explain making 18 trips to China.”
Ko said in a recent interview that he had been to China 18 times and understood China better than most DPP politicians.
Lu has made Ko the primary target of her campaign because the physician has been enjoying the highest support rate among all pan-green camp aspirants and supporters had called for the DPP not to nominate its own candidate to avoid a three-way race that would eventually benefit the KMT.
Writing on Facebook, Lu yesterday raised questions about Ko’s party affiliation, saying that “it seems to me that Ko could be pro-green [the DPP], pro-blue [the KMT] or pro-red [the Chinese Communist Party].”
Lu said she raised the issue because Ko was quoted as saying that he did not understand the DPP’s Taiwan independence charter at all and could probably accept the “one China” ideology if it was clearly defined.
However, Lu’s strategy of questioning Ko’s relationship with China has not been well-received among DPP supporters.
Asked about Lu’s remarks yesterday, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) declined to comment, saying that he has not read what the former vice president said.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant