Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Speaking in response to rumors in the media that there are people within the KMT acting to make such a proposal in the near future, Ma said that he plans to make the proposal in August at the KMT's National Congress meeting.
"I originally made the suggestion in April. It is likely I will propose it again at the meeting," Ma said yesterday in response to media rumors while campaigning for the party chairmanship.
Yesterday, a Chinese-language newspaper said there was movement within the KMT to propose the creation of an honorary chairmanship position, to pander to those hoping for Lien's re-election as party chairman.
While Lien has said on a number of occasions that he is not considering running in the July 16 chairmanship election, a growing number of KMT supporters have called on him to stay on.
Lien, the movement's supporters claim, is the only person who can keep the pan-blue camp united during the competition between chairmanship candidates Ma and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
The newspapers yesterday reported that Ma might be planning to make the proposal in the KMT's weekly Central Standing Committee meeting this Wednesday.
Ma originally made the proposal that an honorary chairmanship position be created and then given to Lien in April, when he formally announced his candidacy.
Given Lien's contributions to the party during his time in office, Ma said in April, he would suggest that the KMT's party bylaws be amended to allow the creation of a honorary chairman position, which would be presented to Lien. At the time, the suggestion was seen as a move by Ma to pacify the fledgling movement rooting for Lien's continuation as chairman.
Speaking in response to these rumors, Wang said yesterday that he too considers an honorary chairmanship for Lien a good idea.
"There is that need," Wang told reporters yesterday.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a