A marathon yesterday hosted by Taichung City and County turned into a political wrestling match, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung mayor hopeful Lin Chia-lung (
The marathon, the largest-ever in Taichung, attracted more than 20,000 runners. KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) -- often dubbed the "Great Jogger" by the media -- joined the event, having participated in countless marathons before, along with several prominent KMT members, before presiding over the Central Standing Committee (CSC) meeting.
Lin criticized Ma and his party for politicizing the marathon, and decided not to attend the event.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"Turning Taichung into a healthy city is one of my campaign promises, and I encourage people to exercise more," Lin said in a statement. "But Ma and the KMT members suddenly joined the marathon and politicized this healthy event."
Shrugging off Lin's accusations, Ma defended his participation in the marathon, and said it was a sign of poor sportsmanship to "drop out of the race after signing up for it."
Meanwhile, in response to a recent poll conducted by the United Daily News between Oct. 7 and 8, which said that the KMT's approval rating was higher than the DPP's, Ma said that his party should not be complacent even though the other parties fared even worse than the KMT in the poll.
"Instead, as a party with the ability to reflect upon itself, we must find out what caused the plunge in the approval rating and how to regain the confidence of the public," he said during the meeting.
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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