A flag representing a newly formed political party has been cleared by the Ministry of the Interior, but its similarity to the flags used by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the New Party has raised eyebrows.
According to a report yesterday by the Chinese-language United Daily News, the Republic Party (Minkuotang, 民國黨 or MKT) flag consists of the Republic of China’s national emblem on a golden-yellow background, a design that employs a symbol used by the KMT and the colors used by the New Party.
Members of the KMT and the New Party said the design is a cause for concern, as voters might confuse the MKT flag for that of the KMT or the New Party, the report said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, the Chinese and English names of the MKT closely resemble those of the KMT, while there is also only a one-character difference between the MKT’s Chinese name and the Democratic Progressive Party’s (民進黨), causing some legislators to ask if the MKT aims to trick voters in next year’s legislative elections, the report said.
“Parties should assume that their supporters have the basic intelligence to discern [different party emblems],” MKT spokesman Hsu Shih-hsun (徐世勳) was quoted as saying.
The MKT’s flag is based on the party’s political beliefs and was not designed to cause confusion, Hsu was quoted as saying.
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said that the MKT seemed to be “exploiting loopholes” in formulating its name and its flag, which “the Ministry of the Interior should have made stringent checks on,” the report quoted Lo as saying.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
RSS