Saying the idea for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong(宋楚瑜) to kiss the ground at Saturday's rally was originally proposed by a reporter, a senior PFP campaigner yesterday disputed claims by KMT officials that the move had been initiated by Lien himself.
"The idea first came from a journalist who is covering the election," the official said.
"The idea was first treated as a joke. But, unexpectedly, the KMT leadership later began to seriously think about it," said the official, who asked not to be identified.
On Saturday, KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (
The PFP official added that the decision-making process behind the campaign stunt appears rough.
"The decision was not finalized until the eve of Saturday's rallies. Sufficient preparations could not be made for the next day's kissing the ground by Lien and Soong in Taipei and Taichung, respectively," the official said.
"It was initially planned that the two should make the move simultaneously at 3:20pm that day. But it turned out that Soong did it first, followed by Lien," he said.
The result aroused complaints from the KMT, which did not like its chairman being a follower of his running-mate in a rally that would be crucial for the election on Saturday.
PFP Legislator Huang Yi-chiao (
The anonymous PFP official said the initial arrangement was for Lien and Soong to synchronize their move through television monitors set up at the sites of their rallies.
"But television signals could not be built between the rally sites in Taipei and Taichung overnight. The result was that Lien and Soong did not know what the other was doing at the rallies on Saturday," he said.
Soong knelt down to kiss the ground at 3:26pm, while Lien followed several minutes later.
Besides the failure to synchronize their moves, the two men used different gestures to highlight the theme of the rallies of the pair being "true lovers of the land of Taiwan."
Soong, along with his wife Chen Wan-shui (
Asked to comment on the difference between his gesture and that of Lien, Soong smiled and said the major difference was the height of the body to the ground.
Soong, talking with the press during the return trip from Tai-chung to Taipei Saturday night, showed reservation in his assessment of the value of the kissing move.
"I would like to have had more discussion in advance," Soong said, declining to elaborate.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
RSS