Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator-elect Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) on Monday rescinded his candidacy for legislative speaker, removing the last challenge to former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) before the party formalizes its ticket on Wednesday.
The announcement was a turnaround from the day before, when the former Hualien County commissioner held a news conference doubling down on his intention to run and outlining his platform.
Even before the news conference, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) had already given his support to Han and Chiang to run as speaker and deputy speaker respectively.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The party on Monday held a meeting with its newly elected legislators, concluding in the change of heart by Fu.
“My personal honor is not important, it’s about improving the legislature,” Fu said.
Saying there was only one way to unite the party at this time, Fu endorsed the Han-Chiang ticket as the party’s consensus for the most competitive and robust option.
Chu thanked Fu for supporting Han and Chiang, who are to be formally nominated by the party on Wednesday.
Voting for the new speaker and deputy speaker is scheduled for Thursday next week, the first day of the new legislature.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final