Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday said he would “carefully consider” the possibility of running for president and dismissed a television report claiming to have obtained a draft of a statement by Wang on a decision to run.
With New Taipei City Mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) declaring his disinclination to join the presidential race and Wang retaining his KMT party membership after a court case against him concluded last week, it has been widely speculated that the speaker would soon announce his intention to seek the KMT nomination for next year’s presidential election.
Wang, after weeks of equivocal answers, said that he would seriously consider the possibility of running.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“As I have said before, I have never denied that possibility,” he said.
Regarding the “exclusive report” aired by Next TV on Tuesday night that claimed to have secured a draft copy of a declaration on his intention to join the race, Wang said he had no idea where it came from.
According to the report, Wang said in a 22-page statement to be made public on Sunday that he is “a precious national asset,” as he has more than 40 years of experience in politics and connections with Taiwanese, including his political feud with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and work during the Sunflower movement.
With his experience, Wang could solve the political impasse and push for cross-party cooperation, the report said.
Wang laughed off the “exclusive expose,” saying that if he was to announce anything, “it would not possibly end in more than five, six or seven minutes.”
Wang said that speeches he has given in the past have lasted only a few minutes, including one he made at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on his return from Malaysia in September 2013, the beginning of the “September strife,” in which Ma accused Wang of improper use of influence, and a speech he delivered at the Legislative Yuan during the Sunflower movement last year.
“Who would give such a long speech when declaring his or her intention to run?” asked Wang, adding that the next step, if there is to be one, would be simply signing up for the primary, not presidential candidacy itself.
“You could figure it out with your knees [that the 22-page declaration is a fake],” he said.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS