Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) TV spots for his presidential bid will focus on his love for Taiwan, party spokesman Justin Chou (周守訓) said. \nThe advertisements will feature the nation's prominent scenic spots. \n"By bringing these prominent local sites into view with Lien, we want to highlight Lien's connection with people, his care and love for them, and his determination to develop Taiwan," Chou said. \nRunning on a joint ticket with People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) in next March's presidential election, Lien filmed his first campaign spot on Sunday in his hometown of Tainan. \nThe piece was filmed at the Eternal Fortress, a popular historic site. \nThe fortress, located in the Anping district of Tainan, was built in 1876 on the order of Ching dynasty Fujian maritime commissioner, Shen Bao-zhen (沈葆禎) to bolster Tainan's costal defenses against Japanese aggression. \nAgainst the backdrop of the site, Lien said Tainan is a historic city. \n"If necessary, I want to take the filming to other parts of Taiwan for retrospection ? to let people know the past, present as well as future prospects of the place," he said. \nAccording to the KMT, choosing Tainan as the first location for Lien's campaign spots "puts an emphasis on the close connection between the people and the land as well as symbolizes that Lien is setting out from his hometown vying for voters' support and recognition." \nAccording to the party's Cultural and Communications Affairs Committee, the TV ad is slated to air on Oct. 25, Retrocession Day. Retrocession Day marks Taiwan's handover to Chinese rule in 1945 after half a century of Japanese occupation. \nThe committee was tight-lipped other filming locations.
TENSE SITUATION: If the storm does not bring rain, Taiwan might have to wait until next month amid water scarcity in the center and south, an expert said Typhoon Surigae is to bring rain to the nation’s east coast and mountainous areas in central and southern Taiwan from Wednesday to Friday, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 1,170km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The radius of the storm was 280km, and it was moving northwest at 9kph, with a maximum wind speed of 198kph. The bureau forecasts that the storm would switch to a northerly direction when approaching the east coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines on Wednesday, CWB forecaster Lin Ding-yi (林定宜) said, adding that Surigae would
SEEKING CLARITY: Some members of the US delegation asked KMT legislators in a meeting to address their party’s position on the so-called ‘1992 consensus,’ sources said A US delegation tasked by US President Joe Biden to reaffirm the country’s commitment to its partnership with Taiwan yesterday wrapped up a three-day visit to Taipei. Former US senator Chris Dodd, former US deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, and US Department of State Office of Taiwan Coordination Director Dan Biers departed at 11:20am on a private jet. The members of the delegation, all friends of Biden, arrived on Wednesday and met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and other government officials. During the three-day visit, the delegation also met with six members of the Legislative
Taipei’s street names should reflect a “Taiwanese spirit,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said in an online video released yesterday, in which he asked why many of them are named after locations in China. In a three-minute video uploaded to a Facebook page called “Taiwanese Uncle Ko Wen-je” (台灣阿北柯文哲), the mayor suggested changing the names of Taipei streets. The page’s banner was a photograph of Ko on Jade Mountain’s (玉山) main peak. The page was closed at about noon, about four hours after it was made public. Ko said that street names in the capital named “Ningxia,” “Tibet,” “Beiping” — an old name for
‘AN EXCUSE’: The intent of Beijing’s incursions was ‘intimidation and coercion,’ a senior US official said, adding that China was using the US to justify its actions Chinese carrier drills and stepped-up incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in the past few weeks are meant to send a message to Washington to stand down and back off, security sources in Taipei said. The increased activity — which China, unusually, described as “combat drills” on Wednesday — has raised alarm in both Taipei and Washington, although security officials do not see it as a sign of an imminent attack. Rather, at least some of the exercises are practicing “access denial” maneuvers to prevent foreign forces from coming to Taipei’s defense in a war, one official familiar with Taiwan’s security
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