Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday hit out at former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who on Saturday called on the public to reject KMT candidates in November’s special municipality elections and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in the 2012 presidential poll.
“Many people say they love Taiwan, but what is more important is how they demonstrate their love,” Wu said. “To love Taiwan is not only a slogan. They must do so soberly.”
On Saturday Lee said that the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) was a scheme to form a “one China market.” He said it would suck up Taiwan’s capital, manpower and skills before swallowing up the nation, calling on the public to use their votes to punish Ma.
Elections for the heads of five special municipalities will take place on Nov. 27 in Taipei City, Sinbei City (the upgraded Taipei County), Greater Taichung (a merger of Taichung City and Taichung County), Greater Tainan (a merger of Tainan City and Tainan County) and Greater Kaohsiung (a merger of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County).
On the election in the capital, Wu yesterday said Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of the KMT and his opponent, the DPP’s Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), were neck and neck but emphasized that many things could yet happen before the vote.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday agreed to serve as chief campaign supervisor for KMT candidate for the Greater Kaohsiung election, Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順).
Wang, who had turned down several invitations to become Huang’s campaign chairman, yesterday said he was still not suitable for that position, mainly because of his tight schedule.
As Huang’s chief campaign supervisor, Wang said he would do his best to stump for Huang and seek maximum support for her.
Citing the example of the legislative election in 2008, Wang said “there was room for Huang to win” in the November election if the party could muster enough support and unite all its local factions.
Huang secured more than 58 percent of the votes in Kaohsiung’s First Constituency, convincingly beating her DPP opponent by more than 17 percent.
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
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CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
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