The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) plans to focus the last month of its campaign on distracting from controversies surrounding its legislator-at-large candidates, a source said yesterday.
Instead, the campaign would continue to zero in on allegations against Yang Hui-ju (楊蕙如) over a post online that has been implicated in the suicide of a diplomat, and would attempt to strengthen reactionary sentiment directed at the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, the source added.
The KMT hopes to draw attention away from criticism of legislator-at-large candidate Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), whom the DPP have pushed to remove from the list, sending the KMT scrambling, the source said.
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
Wu’s addition to the list has been scrutinized after it was revealed that he had attended a Chinese government event in Beijing where he stood for the Chinese national anthem.
“Although Wu is only a legislator-at-large nominee, the controversy surrounding him has affected the campaigns of other nominees,” the source said. “It’s been like a game of hot potato where legislators are being asked about Wu and don’t know how to answer.”
Wu, believing that he would not be harmful to the KMT, has turned up uninvited at other legislators’ campaign events, the source said.
“He and former army commander-in-chief General Chen Chen-hsiang (陳鎮湘) have appeared at campaign events causing a headache for other nominees. All they can do is try their best to prevent him from taking the stage,” the source said.
Former New Taipei City mayor and KMT central campaign office head Eric Chu (朱立倫) has not yet started online campaign efforts, the source said, adding that the focus of the KMT’s overall online campaign was expected to follow that of its presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) campaign, which was chosen by Han’s campaign office spokeswoman Anne Wang (王淺秋).
The KMT theme in this election cycle has been “taking down President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and replacing her with the ‘Republic of China clique,’” the source said.
The DPP’s focus on Wu has helped its own efforts, but it has also faced pressure from several matters, including the Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co (慶富造船) corruption scandal, the Yang case and most recently, the Far Eastern Air Transport’s (FAT, 遠東航空) decision to cease operations, the source added.
‘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
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
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
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
RSS