Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Ouyang Long (歐陽龍) yesterday expressed hope that Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) would “return to the party” as it prepares to nominate Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) as its presidential candidate.
Han is to be officially nominated as the party’s candidate at the KMT national convention on Suday, Ouyang said.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), former KMT chairs Lien Chan (連戰), Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) and Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), and KMT Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) are to attend, he said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
To promote unity, the party has also invited the other contenders in the primary, he said.
Former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), former Taipei county commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) and Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中) have accepted the invitation, Ouyang said.
While Gou’s office on Tuesday said that the was abroad and would not be in Taiwan on Sunday, Oyang said he hopes Gou will return to support the party.
“I believe the issue with Gou will eventually be resolved,” he said, adding that the process would take time.
After a fair and transparent presidential primary, party members must rally behind its presidential candidate to help the KMT win the election, he said.
Separately yesterday, a fan group for Gou launched a petition to support Gou as an independent presidential candidate.
Under election laws, to qualify as an independent, a prospective candidate must collect signatures from 1.5 percent of the electorate in the previous legislative election, which would be 274,576, to make the Jan. 11 ballot.
“The purpose of the petition is to call back Gou. We must let him know that he is the only person capable of changing the Republic of China and Taiwan for the better,” Terry Gou’s Tiger Fans said in a statement on Facebook.
The KMT presidential primary was conducted in an unfair manner and the more rational independent supporters would not vote for Han, the group said.
“The KMT can lose the election, but the Republic of China and Taiwan cannot lose,” it said.
The Facebook group has more than 14,000 members.
Gou expressed gratitude to the group after learning about their efforts, Gou’s office said.
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,
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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
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