Chu Ting-chieh (朱挺介), the son of former Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) -- now a fugitive -- is running for legislative seat in southern Kaohsiung as an independent.
According to Lin Hsiang-nung (林享能), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung chapter head who is coordinating the pan-blue camp's election campaign there, Chu will probably siphon votes from pan-blue candidates because his campaign themes are similar to those of the pan-blue camp. But his campaign may go a long way in healing the Chu family's battered image after his father's fall from grace in the wake of the Kaohsiung vote-buying scandal in July.
"What we observe here is that certain voters don't really care what the last generation has done," Lin told the Taipei Times. Chu's sister, 25-year-old Chu Ting-shan (朱挺珊), won more than 10,000 votes and was elected in the Kaohsiung City by-election to represent her district, Chiencheng, despite criticism of her father's involvement in vote-buying.
In September last year, Chu An-hsiung was sentenced to 22 months in prison for paying NT$500 per vote to support his city council bid.
In March, the brother and sister jointly organized a support group promoting the pan-blue presidential candidate and KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to consolidate the Chu family's support.
Lin said that in a field where 11 candidates are vying for five open legislative seats, all four blue-leaning independent candidates, including Chu, plan to collaborate with the KMT. It is estimated that a candidate has to gain more than 30,000 ballots to be elected in southern Kaohsiung.
Lin said that Chu's potential should not be underestimated because he personally has quite attractive qualities in a potential legislator, in terms of education, financial resources and local connections. Chu, with no political experience, received a PhD in international industry management from Cambridge University, according to Chinese-language media reports, and was once a lecturer at Oxford University. He now serves as the vice general manager for the An Feng Group (安鋒集團) run by his family.
Chu last week refused to respond to queries about his motives for running in the legislative elections and his opinions on issues.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS