Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday urged supporters to give the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) another chance in the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections and vowed to reform the party if elected president.
The KMT was voted out of office in 2016 because it had lost touch with the public and had deviated from their will, the KMT presidential candidate told a rally attended by more than 1,000 township mayors and borough wardens in Kaohsiung’s Daliao District (大寮).
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is repeating mistakes the KMT made before its 2016 election defeat, and as ruling parties, both put little effort into running the nation, Han said.
Photo: CNA
Having achieved little regarding their policies, both parties therefore resorted to mudslinging and squandering money to win elections, he added.
“If elected president, I promise that I will work hard, that the KMT will undergo reforms and that we will cultivate younger generations,” he said, urging supporters to give the KMT another chance.
Han also promised to offer township mayors a fixed salary or a raise in their monthly allowance.
The current policy of paying each township mayor a monthly allowance of NT$45,000 is unreasonable, considering that the population of each township varies greatly, he said.
If elected president, he would conduct a nationwide survey among township mayors to determine how to adjust their pay, he said.
The rally was one of five campaign events Han attended in Kaohsiung yesterday. After the rally, he visited the Huangpu New Village (黃埔新村) veterans’ community in Fongshan District (鳳山), took part in skeet shooting in Daliao, and attended a Christmas celebration in Zuoying District (左營) and an event to promote local produce in Dashe District (大社).
At the shooting range, Han shot three green balloons respectively labeled “state apparatus,” “diplomatic isolation” and “1450” — a term coined by critics of the DPP to refer to what they believed to be the party’s online influence campaigns.
During an interview with reporters at the range afterward, Han accused the DPP of becoming arrogant after assuming power.
“The DPP’s remarks in the past several days show it has grown very arrogant since taking power,” he said.
Commenting on Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen’s (陳宗彥) remarks on Saturday urging supporters not to vote for minor parties, Han said that members of the public could freely decide which party to vote for.
Democracy is valuable because of its diversity, he said, adding: “They think all Taiwanese have to vote for the DPP.”
In a video the DPP released on Thursday, DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) even said that many Kaohsiung residents feel bad about what they did to Taiwan, Han said.
“In a democracy, people vote to choose their president, legislators and government heads. What wrong could Kaohsiung residents have done to the nation by electing a mayor?” he asked.
“I hope all 23 million Taiwanese vote to prove that the people are truly the master of the country,” he said.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS