Former president Lee Teng-hui (
The rally is scheduled for Sept. 1 in Kaohsiung City, Su Chin-chang (
"Lee will bring a secret guest who is a heavyweight in the KMT to join him in boosting our legislative candidates at the rally," Su said. He added that Lee has promised to attend all of the TSU's major rallies to be held in Kaohsiung, Taichung and Taipei in the lead up to the December legislative elections.
The party is fielding 39 candidates in the year-end polls.
Continuing to play the "Lee Teng-hui card," the TSU yesterday unveiled merchandise such as stationery and T-shirts that bear the former president's photograph and name. The party plans to sell the memorabilia to raise campaign funds.
Lee's attendance at the rally will likely lead to more calls from KMT conservatives to oust its former chairman from the party. So far, the KMT has remained quiet on whether it will punish Lee, fearing a backlash from his supporters.
Lee yesterday told reporters that he wouldn't be angry or disappointed with the KMT if the party expelled him.
Lee made his remarks after meeting with US House Repre-sentative Henry Hyde at the Grand Hotel yesterday.
Answering reporters' questions about whether he would take the initiative to leave the KMT, Lee simply asked, "How?"
KMT central headquarters' remained silent on the issue yesterday despite calls from some party members to expel Lee immediately.
KMT lawmaker Hung Hsiu-chu (
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The party is hesitant to punish Lee because the former president is highly popular with many Taiwanese. Expelling him could cost the party votes in the upcoming election.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
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
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