The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held Central Standing Committee (CSC) meetings in Kaohsiung and Pingtung Counties for the first time in the party's 100-history yesterday in a bid to boost the prospects of local candidates in the year-end government elections and improve communication with party members.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), a Kaohsiung native, however, did not join the meeting, as he stayed in Taipei for a forum held to discuss the arms procurement bill.
PHOTO: SU FU-NAN, TAIPEI TIMES
Before the meeting, Ma paid a visit to Kaohsiung County Council Speaker Hsu Fu-sen (
Later, during the CSC Ma said he believed that the first Southern CSC was a great opportunity for CSC members to hear voices from the south and encourage local candidates for the the year-end elections.
"What we are holding today is not only a CSC, but also a small convention. We want to make sure that locals here know that the KMT care about their opinions, and that their voices will be heard," Ma said.
While stressing that the party wasn't taking the CSC to the south solely for the purpose of the year-end elections, Ma later went out on the streets to campaign for Kaohsiung County commissioner candidate Lin Yi-shih (
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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The presence of Taiwanese politicians at China’s military parade tomorrow would send the wrong message to Beijing and the international community about Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy, a national security official said yesterday. China is to hold the parade tomorrow to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. By bringing together leaders of “anti-West” governments such as Russia, North Korea, Iran and Belarus, the parade aims to project a symbolic image of an alliance that is cohesive and unbending against Western countries, the national security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu
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