KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
On Thursday, after the PFP mediator for party cooperation quit, Soong said he would meet with Lien to make a last-ditch effort to try to save shaky KMT-PFP plans to cooperate in the year-end elections.
Lien said through an aide that he and Soong have met frequently -- once every couple of weeks -- since the opposition alliance was formed.
"He is willing to meet [with James Soong] any time that is appropriate," the aide said. The KMT chairman failed to respond to numerous questions from reporters.
KMT spokesman Wang Chih-kang (
Originally, the KMT and PFP proposed jointly supporting a single joint candidate in the commissioner's races in six counties. So far, they've failed to agree on a single joint candidate.
Politicians at the local level, especially those from the KMT, object to the arrangement because it denies them the chance to run for public office.
With no PFP candidate winning KMT backing, PFP officials have publicly blamed the KMT for not working hard enough to coordinate with them.
Both parties nominated their own candidates for Taitung and Taipei Counties, and the KMT is ready to nominate its own candidate in Kaohsiung County, too.
PFP lawmaker Chung Shao-ho (
However, another KMT aspirant, Wu Kuang-hsun (吳光訓), insists on being a candidate in the race.
Highlighting the confusion, Chao Shou-po (
Chao said in the name of cooperation, the KMT plans to nominate Huang for Kaohsiung County commissioner, while asking the PFP's Chung to serve as his deputy.
If that plan fails to materialize, Chao says the KMT will nominate Wu and have Huang serve as deputy.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique