Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"Local people are fed up with distasteful campaign gimmicks," Ma said, adding he hoped the presidential candidates from both the pan-green camp and the pan-blue alliance could exercise self-restraint on the campaign trail.
Ma, who is concurrently serving as secretary-general of the campaign headquarters of the pan-blue presidential ticket of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), made the call after the rival camps traded accusations and libel suits in recent days.
Claiming that few who resort to negative campaigning had succeeded in elections either at home or abroad, Ma said he didn't think mud-slinging would prove effective in the March 20 poll.
Ma, who is also KMT vice chairman, said he had urged the pan-blue alliance to cease negative campaigning during a recent meeting at the alliance's campaign headquarters.
He also called on the pan-green camp, headed by the Democratic Progressive Party, to halt what he described as a smear campaign against Lien.
"Both candidates should focus on policy debate. Each side should present policy initiatives and outline its vision for Taiwan's future development instead of slandering each other," Ma said, adding that those obsessed with negative campaigning would lose support.
Ma's appeal came after President Chen Shui-bian's (
Recent opinion polls show that Chen and Lien are running neck and neck. A local newspaper yesterday said that Chen and Lien were level in a major survey of voters.
Both candidates received support of 35 percent from those polled, the China Times said. The remainder were undecided.
Chen's support dropped one percentage point while Lien's support rose one percentage point from a week earlier, the newspaper said.
About 29 percent of respondents said they could not tell which side's allegation was more convincing, and 30 percent said they believed neither side, it said.
Only 15 percent said they believed Chen's allegations, and 12 percent believed Lien's accusations. Another 12 percent said both sides were culpable, while the rest gave no opinion.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
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