The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) 17th national convention closed yesterday, with Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"As an opposition party, we should enhance our power in the Legislative Yuan and push for more bills that are important to people's livelihoods ... Legislators have to behave more rationally and avoid extremism," Ma said during the closing ceremony.
He later offered his apology to party representatives for the disorder.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"We didn't plan well about the voting procedure and routes to the voting booths. I apologize for the disorder, and the situation will be improved next time," Ma said.
The 31 CSC members were elected last night about seven hours after the list of 210 Central Committee members came out. The top three members on the list were vice executive-director of the party's Policy Committee, Huang Chao-shun (
Lu received the most votes in the earlier Central Committee election, followed by Huang. Lien Sheng-wen was ranked sixth. KMT Legislator Lee Jih-chu (
Lien thanked the party representatives for giving him the chance to serve the party.
"I felt honored to be able to work with senior members at the party, and there are many things I will need to learn from them," he said.
Lu said that she felt honored but also pressured because she received the most votes in the Central Committee election. She also lauded the party for valuing womens' abilities and carrying out the concept of gender equality.
"This is the first time that the top three central committee members have been female. I thank our party members for appreciating womens' abilities, and I will devote my efforts to work for the party," she said.
The long and chaotic election process, however, drew criticism from some party members. Unfamiliar with the new direct-election procedure, many party representatives complained about the chaotic situation as they struggled to find voting booths among campaign troupes and media.
The disorder even angered KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"Friends from the media, please respect the election order, OK?" Ma raised his voice when swamped by reporters.
He later offered an apology to the media about his reaction.
KMT Secretary-General Chan Chuen-pao (
The election of the Central Committee members caused a dispute when three of the Central Committee election candidates' names were found to be missing from the vote.
Organization and Development Committee head Liao Feng-teh (
Taipei on Thursday held urban resilience air raid drills, with residents in one of the exercises’ three “key verification zones” reporting little to no difference compared with previous years, despite government pledges of stricter enforcement. Formerly known as the Wanan exercise, the air raid drills, which concluded yesterday, are now part of the “Urban Resilience Exercise,” which also incorporates the Minan disaster prevention and rescue exercise. In Taipei, the designated key verification zones — where the government said more stringent measures would be enforced — were Songshan (松山), Zhongshan (中山) and Zhongzheng (中正) districts. Air raid sirens sounded at 1:30pm, signaling the
The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday. The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said. However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said. The number of spousal tax filings rebounded
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
Labor rights groups yesterday called on the Ministry of Labor to protect migrant workers in Taiwan’s fishing industry, days after CNN reported alleged far-ranging abuses in the sector, including deaths and forced work. The ministry must enforce domestic labor protection laws on Taiwan-owned deep-sea fishing vessels, the Coalition for Human Rights for Migrant Fishers told a news conference outside the ministry in Taipei after presenting a petition to officials. CNN on Sunday reported that Taiwanese seafood giant FCF Co, the owners of the US-based Bumble Bee Foods, committed human rights abuses against migrant fishers, citing Indonesian migrant fishers. The alleged abuses included denying