KMT officials promised yesterday to push for an NT$10 billion fund to help the unemployed start new businesses should the party remains the largest in the legislature after the Dec. 1 polls.
In addition, party officials said the government should set aside another NT$100 billion to help farmers cope with the effects of Taiwan's entry into the WTO. KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) made the promises yesterday during rallies held in Keelung and Ilan County, where the unemployment rate is 5.7 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.
Lien blamed the nation's economic woes on the DPP, who he said had failed to put forth any substantial policies as Taiwan experiences its worst economic downturn in recent memory.
"Instead of working out a solution, the ruling party is blaming this person today and blaming another tomorrow. Everybody has been blamed," Lien said.
Lien accused the DPP of dropping the port city of Keelung as part of an overall plan to develop Taiwan into a business-operations hub in the Asia-Pacific region. "Over the past one and a half years of the DPP being in power, we have seen nothing. All the plans are gone," Lien said.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) also attacked the DPP on the economic front yesterday. "A mistaken policy is worse than corruption," Ma said while stumping in Hualien County. Ma claimed that people's wealth has shrunk significantly since the DPP took power.
Taipei's mayor also took issue with the DPP's decision to scrap the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, which was later reversed. The delay cost the government NT$3.4 billion, Ma said.
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