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.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
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