Independent presidential candidate James Soong (
Liu, flanked by pro-Soong legislators, announced that he was throwing his support behind Soong.
"A while ago, when Soong led the race by a big margin, I was not interested in doing him an additional favor [by endorsing him]," said Liu, a legislator and long-time political faction leader in Taichung County. "Now that he is confronted with difficulty, I want to help him now as he did for me in the past."
Liu was apparently referring to support from Soong that helped him secure another term as speaker at the legislature in 1996.
The KMT said Liu's move was not unexpected, and the damage to the election campaign of its presidential candidate, Vice President Lien Chan (
"It is regrettable, but not something surprising," said KMT spokesperson Huang Hwei-chen (
But current legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Liu is expected to be expelled from the KMT, as were other KMT politicians who have already publicly endorsed Soong.
In Chiayi County yesterday afternoon, Soong said he was happy to hear the news.
Soong was there there to visit the parents of Liao Cheng-hao (
In addition to making a new allie, Soong yesterday also took a step to polish his image, tarnished by the recent financial scandal, by sending his lawyer, Huang Tung-hsiung (
Soong has claimed the money belonged to the KMT and that it was entrusted to him by President and KMT chairman Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to take care of late President Chiang Ching-kuo's (蔣經國) family and to conduct "special operations" for the party.
Lee and the KMT have denied the claim.
In a statement issued yesterday by his lawyer, Soong said: "If the court refuses to accept the deposit, I will entrust the money to a supervisory committee made up of lawyers, accountants, scholars and other trustworthy people to decide what to do with the funds."
If the court accepts the money, it will notify the president to come and collect it. If that fails, the court will wait for the conclusion of legal action before disbursing it to what it considers to be the rightful owners.
If no one comes forward within 10 years, the money will be put into national coffers. The court also has the right to refuse the money.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS