■ Transport
Link goes underground
Taipei City Government's Department of Rapid Transit Systems yesterday announced that the bureau will construct an underground MRT line that connects with CKS International Airport, rather than build an overhead link. Although the Ministry of Transportation and Communications planned to construct an overhead MRT line to the airport, bureau director Fan Liang-hsiu (范良鏽) said the central plan will destroy the city's urban landscape and bring chaos to Taipei's traffic. Fan said the bureau would ask the central government to increase the line's budget and will try its best to finish the underground as soon as possible because underground construction would add two years to the project.
■ Politics
Police want PFP lawmaker
Kaohsiung police said yesterday they wanted a lawmaker to be prosecuted for standing atop a truck that rammed a courthouse gate guarded by police during a post-election riot. Police want prosecutors to charge People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) because several officers were injured in the melee, said the city's police chief, Hsieh Hsu-nen (謝秀能). Chiu told reporters he was on top of the truck because he was trying to calm the protesters. But Hsieh didn't believe Chiu's account. "I told him the protest was illegal and asked him to halt immediately," Hsieh said. TV footage showed Chiu standing on a campaign truck that repeatedly rammed a Kaohsiung courthouse gate guarded by a group of police. Chiu was also part of a crowd that stormed the Central Election Commission headquarters in Taipei last Friday.
■ Politics
Ting and Tsai offer to resign
Following Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Alex Tsai's (蔡正元) offer to resign on Monday, the director of the KMT's Organization and Development Affairs Committee, Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), also submitted his resignation yesterday. Both Tsai and Ting, whose resignations were not accepted, cited unsatisfactory performance in KMT Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) failed presidential election bid as the reason for their wish to quit. Lien, paired with People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), lost to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) by a margin of less than 30,000 votes. Lien is contesting the election result in court. KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正), noting that the election result remained uncertain, had asked Tsai and Ting to stay. "It is natural for party directors to resign from their post as a gesture of taking responsibility," Ting said. "But given that the outcome of this election is controversial, the secretary-general has asked us to remain at our posts."
■ Cross-strait ties
Kinmen learns about links
In an effort to improve the efficacy of the current "three small links," the Kinmen County government hosted a seminar yesterday attended by more than 130 officials from local and central authorities. The symposium, chaired by Kinmen County Deputy Commissioner Yang Chung-chuan (楊忠全), attracted officials from the Kinmen County government, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) as well as other government agencies stationed on the outlying island. Officials from the MAC's Department of Legal Affairs and Department of Economic Affairs were in charge of explaining the newest rules of the "small three links" to attendees.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS