The pan-blue camp will win a majority of seats in the year-end legislative elections, Chinese Nation-alist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) predicted yesterday, while emphasizing that a pan-blue majority will also be beneficial for cross-strait relations.
Speaking to foreign and local media at a press conference yesterday, Lien answered questions about the possibility of his resignation as KMT chairman, his recent call for a new Cabinet and the blue camp's chances in Saturday's legislative elections.
Criticizing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for attempting to destroy the KMT, Lien said that he did not believe the DPP could solve the cross-strait "problem."
In the 50 years that the KMT was the ruling party, Lien said, Taiwan's economic development and foreign relations were both good, unlike the situation now after Chen's first term.
The KMT supports the status quo, Lien said, and added that within the boundaries of the status quo, he believes there are still a number of issues that can be negotiated with China. Lien was guardedly optimistic throughout the conference, repeatedly stressing his belief that the pan-blue camp will win a majority of seats when the media asked him about alternate scenarios.
Without stating the exact number of seats he expects the alliance to win, Lien told reporters that the pan-blue camp's three campaign strategies -- controlling the number of candidates nominated, strengthening weaker candidates, and allocating votes -- were enough to maintain the majority of seats in the legislature needed to check Chen's "recklessness."
Lien did predict, however, that the pan-blue camp would only win by a narrow margin. When pressed for answers about his controversial call on Sunday for a new Cabinet if the pan-blue camp "wins" the legislative elections, Lien was low key.
Lien said he felt that the elections would bring new hope to the country.
While no one disputes the president's right to nominate Cabinet members, Lien said, he hoped that the government and the leaders of the DPP would allow the emergence of a new and capable governing team when the people's consensus is manifested -- through a pan-blue majority.
"It is very strange. Right now, we have a minority government in power, with the majority in opposition," Lien said, adding that no normal democratic state should be in such a situation.
When questioned by foreign reporters about the pan-blue camp's plans should neither side win a majority, Lien acknowledged this possibility was likely.
However, he said, the pan-blue alliance has many friends among the independent candidates running this year. The pan-blue camp should therefore be able to gain some support among the independent legislative bloc, he said..
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS