President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday formally registered for his re-election bid, pledging that if he wins next year, he would spare no effort to fulfill his pledge of creating a “golden decade” for Taiwan, making it safer and more prosperous.
Ma made the remarks after registering his candidacy, along with his running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), for the presidential election. They were the first team to register at the Central Election Commission for the Jan. 14 poll.
“I have completed the registration procedure and deposited the guarantee of NT$15 million [US$496,680]. Starting today, I will gradually carry out my campaign programs,” Ma said. “And if I’m re-elected, I’ll do whatever I can to make our country more secure, our society more stable and our people more at ease.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Both Ma and Wu wore specially designed T-shirts printed with an amulet design that carries four Chinese characters wishing Taiwan peace and good luck.
They were accompanied by Legislative Deputy Speaker Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), serving in his capacity as secretary-general of Ma’s campaign, and a group of young volunteers.
Earlier this month, Wu said he would temporarily step down from his post on Dec. 14, one month before the election, which will be held simultaneously with the legislative polls.
Candidacy registration for next year’s presidential and legislative elections opened yesterday, and will close on Friday.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her running mate, Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), are expected to register tomorrow, while People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and his running mate, Lin Ruey-shiung (林瑞雄), are expected to register either tomorrow or Friday.
Officials from the National Security Bureau on Sunday said it would take over the responsibility for security after the presidential and vice-presidential candidates officially register their candidacies this week.
Teams will provide security for candidates from registration day to midnight on Jan. 15, one day after election day, it added.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS