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.
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
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS