Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
"There is no violence in my family," Lien answered briefly as reporters asked for his comment on the report.
Lien yesterday published a new book amid spiraling rumors of his wife-beating, triggered by a report in the latest issue of Next magazine.
Confronted with a letter the magazine claimed had been written by his daughter, Lien Hui-hsin (連惠心), to complain about her father beating his wife, Lien Fang Yu (連方瑀), Lien Chan refused to respond to details in the letter.
Lien's book, Only Changes Can Bring Hope, illustrates the KMT presidential candidate's models of national leaders. The eight-chapter book, Lien said, explained how he planned to solve the problems facing the country.
After conversations with grassroots supporters over the past few years, Lien said he analyzed problems generated during the course of Taiwan's democratization.
"I also mapped out the goals Taiwan should achieve," he said.
Also covering his observation of changes and developments in international politics over the years, Lien said he would rule the country by three principles he coined if elected -- "the Principle of the New Taiwanese, the Principle of New Development and the Principle of New Cooperation."
Based on the three principles, the KMT presidential hopeful promised to create "clean politics, a vibrant economy, a just society, win-win cross-strait policies and an efficient government" for the Taiwanese people.
"I hope President Chen Shui-bian (
"The problems Taiwan is facing now were all caused by Chen's government." he said.
Attacking Chen's "self-confining" ideology and "old-fashioned" ideas, Lien said Taiwan underwent significant changes since his rival took power four years ago.
"Unfortunately, these changes only led Taiwan in the wrong direction," he said.
Taiwan's politics, economy and society have all deteriorated as a result of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government's administration, Lien said.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
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