The nation's leaders celebrated the Lunar New Year yesterday by visiting temples, but nevertheless made a few comments about next year's presidential election.
President Chen Shui-bian (
However, well-wishers were disappointed by the absence of first lady Wu Shu-jen (
Chen and Wu have faithfully followed the precedent set by former president Lee Teng-hui (
This year's red envelopes were a little bit different: Instead of a picture of the lunar animal of the year, they were emblazoned simply with the word "Taiwan."
Each envelope contained a NT$10 coin and a picture of a little girl putting a coin into a piggy bank to welcome the Year of the Pig.
Thousands of people line up every year for the chance to receive a red envelope from the president. Many stake out a spot in line days ahead of time by placing a stool or a chair in their place.
Chen Chao-shou (陳朝壽) of Taipei County was the first person to receive a red envelope from the president yesterday. He said he had camped outside the president's parents' home for about a week.
Last year, Chen Chao-shou engaged in a shoving match with another person in line, who insisted that he had been first.
Later, President Chen treated villagers to fried rice noodles and fish ball soup before going to Tai-tien Temple in Matou (
Before traveling to Tainan, President Chen and Lu visited a number of temples, including Huei-an Temple in Kuantien and Taipei's Pao-an and Hsing-tien temples.
When approached by the media in Taipei, Lu was less ambiguous than before about her election plans and admitted that she is in the process of consulting with her advisers.
Lu said she was not surprised by mounting speculation that Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Yu Shyi-kun would soon announce his intention to run in the presidential race and wished him good luck.
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jou (
Ma, who announced his intention to run in the presidential election on Tuesday, said that he had not yet selected a running mate.
Responding to a question, Ma said he would not feel "awkward" when meeting with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) today.
The two have developed a strong rivalry since competing in the KMT's chairperson election last year. Wang is expected to announce his presidential bid after the Lunar New Year holiday.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS