Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday apologized to former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) after Ma’s office complained about the way he was forced to stop speaking during the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate’s rally in New Taipei City’s Xingfu Shueiyang Park (幸福水漾公園) on Sunday.
Ma’s introductory remarks were cut short by organizers after supporters grew impatient for Han, who was spotted wading through the crowd in the middle of Ma’s speech, an hour after he was scheduled to appear on stage.
Campaign office deputy chief executive Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) abruptly curtailed Ma’s speech by announcing it was time for the former president to get some rest backstage, as exit music was played, even though Ma said: “I have not finished yet.”
Photo: CNA
The way the event organizers ended Ma’s speech earlier than planned was “very regrettable,” Ma’s office said yesterday morning.
There was a “tiny problem” with the way his campaign office had scheduled guest speakers, Han told reporters in Kaohsiung yesterday afternoon.
“The schedule was too tight,” he said, adding that the rally had a lot of speakers because it was the first held by his campaign office.
He telephoned Ma yesterday morning to apologize that he had to wait for an hour to make his speech, Han said.
“I also waited outside for an hour. I left for the stage as soon as I was informed that it was time,” he told reporters.
Han’s campaign office also issued an apology for the “slight delay” in scheduling, which it said was caused by the large number of KMT officials attending the event.
“Due to the delay, Mayor Han waited outside the venue. He was not late for the event,” it said.
Han had not planned to make a dramatic entry through the crowd during Ma’s speech, but the large crowd at the rally had prevented any vehicles from entering the area near the stage, so Han had to walk to the backstage area, it said.
The office was grateful to everyone who attended, it added.
Ma’s office confirmed that Han had apologized to Ma in a telephone call, and that while he had been surprised at the way things unfolded, “he did not mind.”
Han’s aides should be more cautious to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, it quoted Ma as saying.
In other developments, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said that the city had asked Han’s campaign office to repair damage caused to the park during the rally.
An inspection of the park yesterday morning showed damaged grass and a significant amount of garbage.
“If the grounds cannot be repaired, we will handle the situation according to regulations,” Hou said. “We will be strict [with punishments].”
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) yesterday wrote on Facebook that “it was pretty impressive that Han managed to get on so many people’s nerves in just one rally.”
By forcing Ma off stage, doing a sloppy cover of a song by Taiwanese rock band EggPlantEgg and damaging the park’s grass, Han had infuriated “better-educated KMT supporters, music fans and New Taipei City residents,” Lin said.
Additional reporting by Hsieh Chun-lin
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘SALAMI-SLICING’: Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ tactics around the Pratas Islands have been slowly intensifying, with the PLA testing Taiwan’s responses and limits, an expert said The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned an intrusion by a Chinese drone into the airspace of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as a serious disruption of regional peace. The ministry said it detected the Chinese surveillance and reconnaissance drone entering the southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone early yesterday, and it approached the Pratas Islands at 5:41am. The ministry said it immediately notified the garrison stationed in the area to enhance aerial surveillance and alert levels, and the drone was detected in the islands’ territorial airspace at 5:44am, maintaining an altitude outside the effective range of air-defense weaponry. Following
RSS