Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate and Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday accused President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration of causing “unspeakable suffering” to Taiwanese.
There must be peaceful exchanges across the Taiwan Strait to facilitate the flow of people and goods, which would make Taiwan richer, Han said.
He called on his supporters to vote the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) out of the Presidential Office and the Legislative Yuan in next year’s elections.
Photo: Liu Pin-chuan, Taipei Times
Han made the remarks in a meeting at the Nantou County Council.
While Taiwan’s exports are subjected to a 10 percent tariff, the nation’s main competitor, South Korea, enjoys preferential taxes on 70 percent of its exports via a free-trade arrangement it negotiated with the UK and other nations, Han said, without elaborating.
“Our products are sold at higher prices and we lost Chinese tourists not traveling in group tours,” he said. “Without people coming in or goods going out, the economy cannot grow.”
“The elite residents of Nantou must unite for their children’s sake and vote the DPP out of office to allow Taiwan to have a future,” he said.
In response to requests for comment on remarks by former KMT legislator Chen Hung-chang (陳宏昌) that Han spent his time as a lawmaker “boozing, partying and womanizing,” Han said he did smoke, drink and play mahjong at the legislature.
“However, that was Han Kuo-yu from 10 or 20 years ago, not the man I am now,” Han said. “Chen was remembering the old Han and if he wants to I can prove it to him that I have changed.”
Chen, a KMT member and head of New Taipei City’s Younglian Temple (湧蓮寺), made the comment during Tsai’s visit to his temple earlier yesterday.
KMT New Taipei City chapter head Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) said that Chen’s remarks were inappropriate and a disciplinary meeting would convene today to discuss possible disciplinary action.
“While the party expects Chen to greet the guests to his temple, it was inappropriate for a member of the party’s Central Supervisory Committee to criticize Han and elevate Tsai,” Lee said.
Additional reporting by Chen Hsin-yu
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS