The KMT yesterday refused another request from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), this time sent in a personal letter to its party chairman Lien Chan (連戰), asking that Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) be allowed to represent Taiwan at this year's APEC summit.
Sources in the government confirmed yesterday that Central Bank of China Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) would attend the meeting scheduled for Nov. 15 and Nov. 16 in Brunei instead. The host country has agreed to this new arrangement.
With only eight days to go before the APEC leaders' summit, uncertainty remains after a political dispute over the timing of a policy announcement was linked by the KMT to the decision of who would represent Taiwan at the summit.
As part of Chen's last efforts to solve the thorny issue, Yu Shyi-kun, secretary-general of the Presidential Office, visited KMT headquarters yesterday afternoon to deliver a personal letter the president had written to Lien.
Yu said the president expressed his hope that Lien, as well as the KMT's central standing committee, scheduled to meet today, would grant permission to Siew to represent Chen at the summit.
The president also urged the KMT to make the national interest its top consideration instead of mixing domestic political confrontations with the APEC issue.
"In consideration of the country's biggest interest, we should maximize our national interest when expanding external relations," Yu added.
But the KMT turned down the offer, criticizing Chen's move as "difficult to comprehend."
KMT spokesman Jason Hu (
Hu said the KMT was optimistic to see Perng, also a KMT member, attend the summit.
Hu said Siew, as the KMT vice chairman, had a "special" status, and he should respect the KMT legislative caucus's resolution asking him not to go, Hu said.
But lawmakers from some of the KMT's factions within the legislature -- including the Generation-E Alliance (e-世代問政聯盟) -- held a press conference yesterday to support Siew's attendance.
KMT legislators headed by Lee Shang-ren (
"We intended to urge the party to take this move to mitigate the tension between the ruling DPP and the opposition," Lee told the Taipei Times.
But Hu said he saw no point for the committee to discuss the issue again today.
While Lien had at first approved of Siew's attendance, the KMT changed its mind in a tit-for-tat response to the DPP's announcement that it would the scrap the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project.
The announcement came shortly after a high-profile meeting between the president and Lien.
Lien then announced a delay in the KMT's approval of Siew's assignment to the APEC summit, a move that Chen criticized.
Despite Chen's televised apology to Lien and the nation on Sunday, the KMT has shown no signs of giving the ruling party any concessions.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique