People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
The report said Soong fell to his knees before Chang when the conversation came to a water-resources budget slashed by the central government, but it did not say whether Soong was asking or apologizing to Chang for something. Apparently stricken with grief, Soong criticized the budget cut as a shameful act, the report said.
PHOTO: CHUANG YU-FENG, TAIPEI TIMES
Both the blue and green camps are wooing the independent Chang's support in next year's presidential election.
Chang is a former member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) but was expelled from the party in 1997 for running in the commissioner's election in defiance of party orders. Chang has since built a formidable power base in Yunlin.
Commenting on Soong's kneeling down, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) official said yesterday that Soong was at his wits end.
"Since the most recent poll showed the DPP's support rate is on the rise, while the Lien-Soong ticket's support rate is suffering, Soong's falling on his knees simply showed that he was at his wits end," DPP deputy secretary-general Lee Chin-yung (
Gao Jyh-peng (
"Facing mounting calls for Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
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