The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) are to hold their first round of talks on forming an alliance ahead of next year’s general election tomorrow, TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) office said yesterday.
Ko’s campaign spokesman Tai Yu-wen (戴于文) confirmed that a meeting was scheduled to take place at 2:30pm at the Taipei Howard Plaza Hotel.
Ko’s campaign chief of staff Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) and campaign manager Vincent Chou (周榆修) are to join KMT Secretary-General Justin Huang (黃健庭) and King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), executive officer at the office of KMT presidential candidate and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), Tai said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Ko’s team hopes the meeting would focus on issues related to transparency, public debates and fair polling that would be necessary for a joint ticket, he said.
Polling is the most accountable method for designating the presidential and vice presidential candidates, should Ko and Hou join forces, Tai said, adding that deciding the matter based on approval ratings would also help the duo retain the support of their base.
A video recording of the event would be made and the two sides might hold a news conference following the meeting, he said.
In response to a request for comment on business tycoon and independent candidate Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) absence from the proceedings, KMT Legislator Jessica Chen (陳玉珍) said she believed her party would reach out to Gou after securing an alliance with Ko.
Gou said he has collected enough signatures to be on the ballot and commands about 10 percent of the vote, which could be the decisive margin against Vice President William Lai (賴清德), who is running as the Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate, she said.
Asked what position Gou would occupy in an opposition alliance, Chen said the KMT seems to believe that allying with Ko gives the party the highest chance of winning, despite her personal view that Gou is the best suited for leadership.
“If the party is willing to let Ko be the presidential candidate, then it should have given the nomination to Gou earlier,” she said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS