The Megaport Festival “has made many mothers weep,” Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) wife, Lee Chia-fen (李佳芬), said yesterday. It was not clear what she was insinuating.
Lee made the remarks while campaigning for Han, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, and KMT Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) in New Taipei City, adding that as a mother she knows what many parents are worried about.
The festival’s organizers last month announced that there would not be a 12th Megaport Festival next year after facing pressure from the Kaohsiung City Government.
Photo: Ho Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The festival, cofounded by metal band Chthonic frontman Freddy Lim (林昶佐), now an independent legislator, is frequently headlined by rock band Fire EX, which promotes Taiwanese independence.
As a mother, she would like to see a society that is built on harmony and reciprocity, Lee said.
For that reason, Han has been working hard to improve the nation’s economy and education, while caring for the disadvantaged, she said.
Han would aim to improve the nation’s education system and take care of the disadvantaged if elected president, she added.
While Han was running for mayor last year, she encountered many mothers who cried in her arms due to worries about their children’s school curriculum, Lee said.
She learned from her trips across Asia that Taiwanese children are gifted and would have a great future if they were given the proper opportunities and training, she said.
It would be the “sin of our generation” if we fail to provide a good environment for our children, Lee added.
In related news, KMT Chairman Wu Den-Yih (吳敦義) yesterday said he has not received word on KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) being tapped to be Han’s running mate when asked to comment on the rumor on the sidelines of a rally in Miaoli County.
Chiang had on Saturday dismissed the rumor as untrue.
Previously, former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), former premier Simon Chang (張善政) and former Taipei County commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) had all been rumored to be Han’s vice presidential candidate.
Wu told reporters in Miaoli that Han has asked him who would make a good vice president.
He suggested that Han find someone who can complement him and work well with him, Wu said.
He also told Han that he must pick his own vice president and wished him good luck, he said.
While it was rumored that Han was originally scheduled to attend the Miaoli rally with local KMT legislative candidates Chen Chao-ming (陳超明) and Hsu Chih-jung (徐志榮), Hsu said that Han had informed party members that he would not be attending the rally.
Han would definitely visit Miaoli, Hsu added.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
RSS