Supporters of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) yesterday gathered to stump for him yesterday, during which Chinese Production Party (中華生產黨) chairperson Lu Yuexiang (盧月香) revealed that she paid for China-based Taiwanese businesspeople’s flights to return to vote for the pan-blue camp during the 2008 presidential election.
The Chinese Production Party is formed of Chinese spouses married to Taiwanese nationals.
Lu, who has lived in Taiwan for 22 years, said that in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election — in which then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) ran against Democratic Progressive Party former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) — she not only helped fund the purchase of plane tickets for Taiwanese businesspeople in China who did not have enough money to return, but had also helped arrange for temporary workers to cover their jobs while they were away.
Photo: Kuo An-chia, Taipei Times
Lu said her move “touched the hearts” of about 8,000 China-based Taiwanese businesspeople who returned in 2008 to vote and brought her party more than 400 additional members.
As for China-based Taiwanese businesspeople with pan-green inclinations, Lu said she told them to “be virtuous and stay in China [and not come back to Taiwan to vote.]”
“The lies being spread about me receiving benefits from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] are false,” Lu said, adding that her party is not tied to the CCP and that her party works “for Taiwan and the continued peace across the Taiwan Strait.”
Lien left the event 25 minutes prior and so was not present when Lu made the remarks.
However, former Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) was present, attending in his capacity as the head of Lien’s supporters’ association.
Later yesterday, when asked to comment on Lu’s remarks, Lien said that he respected Lu and declined to comment further.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to clarify her earlier comments, Lu said that she had helped “two or three” Taiwanese businesspeople financially when they were down on their luck in 2008, and she has not bought plane tickets for China-based Taiwanese businesspeople to return to Taiwan this year.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS