Senior officials of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People's First Party (PFP) will meet today, according to reports in the Chinese-language media yesterday, triggering speculation that the parties are seeking to mend rifts caused by the KMT's vote allocation strategy in the legislative elections.
The reports said KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) would meet PFP Deputy Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng (秦金生).
KMT spokesperson Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) was unable to confirm the reports yesterday, saying he had heard of such a meeting but had been unable to ascertain its existence.
The reported meeting comes on the heels of publicized rifts over the KMT's plans to allocate votes only for KMT candidates, not those of its allies.
Those stories caused consternation within the PFP, since the two parties have made their cooperative push for a pan-blue majority in the Dec. 11 elections a major point of their campaigns.
The controversy began when Lin said on Saturday that his party is in the midst of planning how to maximize the number of its candidates that will win seats.
The KMT, Lin said, would use a vote allocation system to ensure that no votes are wasted in its efforts to ensure the pan-blue alliance wins a majority of seats in the legislature.
PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) has since used every public opportunity to hammer home the message that the pan-blues will not win a majority without his party's support and to criticize the KMT.
On Sunday in Pingtung, for example, Soong mentioned an ad run a month ago by a KMT candidate in Kaohshiung, Lee Fu-hsing (李復興). That ad had criticized Soong as being "even more fearsome than the enemy."
Soong accused the KMT of stabbing the PFP in the back by harboring "unfilial" members within its ranks.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS