The campaign focus for the KMT's Lien Chan (
Yesterday, Lien's camp staged a rally in Taipei that campaign officials claimed attracted over 100,000 participants. The marchers gathered at the Taipei City Government plaza and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall at around 3pm under a steady rain. Lien, who was broadcasting a platform presentation on TV at the time, joined the parade later.
The parade moved to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, for a rock-and-roll concert organized by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (
Tension ran high among supporters when the parade passed Soong's campaign headquarters on Jenai Road, but no incidents were reported.
Answering accusations that government ministries handed out NT$300 per head to employees and promised them a day off to make up for participating in the parade, Lien's spokesperson, Chu Li-lun (
At the concert, emceed by a lineup of popular entertainers to attract young voters Lien joined a singalong of a Credence Clearwater Revival -- a 1960's folk rock band -- tune with running mate Vincent Siew (
Meanwhile, the turnout at Soong's rally in Taoyuan County's sports stadium fell short of expectations, leading some analysts to remark that Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh's (
Soong's running mate Chang Chao-hsiung (
At the rally, New Party legislator Hsieh Chi-ta (
The independent candidate also tried to repair some of the damage inflicted on his campaign through the ongoing financial scandal that surrounds him. Soong said his son had sold three houses in the US that have been cited in the scandal as being paid for by embezzled KMT party funds. Half the money from the sales, he said, would go to his campaign, while the other half will go to victims of the 921 earthquake.
He also made assurances that neither his daughter-in-law, nor his granddaughter are bearers of US passports, which the DPP had alleged earlier in the week.
Soong also asked voters to "rediscover the KMT's true soul." Soong also lashed out at Chen's pro-independence image.
Both the KMT and DPP campaigns are scheduled to hold parades in Keelung City today.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
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
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
RSS