The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) two chairmanship hopefuls, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) will present their political views on television in July, the party decided yesterday.
According to an agreement negotiated by the party central committee between the Wang and Ma camps, the two candidates will speak in televised spots on July 2 and June 9.
The Ma camp, however, had originally hoped for a televised debate with Wang.
"There are only two people running for party chairman, which is the most suitable situation for a televised debate, especially since all voters want to understand Legislative Speaker Wang's and Mayor Ma's views. However, the Wang camp did not agree. We deeply regret this," the Ma camp's representative, Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (
With only a month left until the party's July 16 chairmanship election, representatives from both the Wang and Ma camps met at the KMT's central headquarters yesterday morning to negotiate over details surrounding the election.
Besides agreeing to present their views to the public in July, the two camps also worked with the party's organization and development committee to hammer out transportation arrangements for the day of the election.
Speaking after the meeting, Wu said that the two camps had agreed that the party will arrange to bus its members to only 200 of the 500 polling stations it plans to set up around the nation.
Also, the two camps agreed that each polling booth will have one to two supervisors to manage the voting process, Wu said.
With regard to the television spots, Wu added, the presentations will be broadcast via China Television Co (CTV) and will be most likely be shown at night or in the afternoon. The order in which the two candidates will speak on each of the days, Wu said, will be determined through a draw.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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