Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral hopeful Yeh Chin-chuan's (
A written reprimand in response to a controversial campaign ad targeting another mayoral hopeful, former Environmental Protection Administration chief Hau Lung-bin (
The KMT already has a nomination and primary mechanism for the selection of party candidates, but the mechanism has long been ignored, since top officials often just appoint their preferred candidates.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"The year-end elections provide an excellent opportunity for Ma to set up a new system. What Ma should do is not get involved and allow the primaries to decide the final candidate," said Emile Sheng (盛治仁), a professor of political science at Soochow University.
But Ma's pro-reform statements seem to be in conflict with his actions. The media has regarded Yeh as Ma's "chosen successor," and his entry to the mayoral race was seen as a move to continue the policies of the Ma administration, secure the city's resources and even attract more swing votes with his ethnic background as a native Taiwanese should Ma become the KMT candidate in the 2008 presidential election, even though Yeh once called himself "a person who does not play politics."
Ma tried to maintain a neutral stance, saying that "the KMT has a primary system, but no preferred candidate," and has declined to attend any campaign events for Yeh or other party hopefuls.
As the May 27 primary draws near, however, Ma's staff at the city government and members of his family have come forward to endorse Yeh.
Besides having city government officials, including Taipei Deputy Mayor King Pu-tsung (
On Sunday, Ma made a donation of NT$8,888 to Yeh's campaign fund, sparking criticism from party members.
These moves have prompted KMT legislators Alex Tsai (蔡正元) and John Chiang (蔣孝嚴) to withdraw from the primary, accusing the city government of "taking sides." Two other hopefuls, Hau and KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chong (丁守中), while remaining in the primary, said that they "identified with" what Tsai and Chiang felt.
Meanwhile, Hsu Chia-chin (
"After going from five hopefuls to two, the party can now choose its candidate without holding a primary. This is clearly the result of political tactics," she said.
According to Chinese-language media, Ma was unhappy about the criticism against Yeh and demanded that the party dissuade Yeh from vying for the mayoral nomination. Ma has denied the allegations, saying he would respect any decision Yeh made.
Chen Chin-chiang (
Although KMT councilors who have supported Yeh's campaign expressed surprise over his sudden withdrawal, Chen said that the incident did not guarantee that Hau would win the primary.
"Yeh's supporters may not necessarily turn to Hau. Instead, they may support Ting or even People First Party [PFP] Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜)," he said.
Chen, who campaigned for Yeh for six months, said that older grassroots supporters did not support Hau because of his previous experience in working for the DPP government, and therefore may instead vote for either Ting or Soong, if he decided to run.
Although Soong's ambition to join the Taipei mayoral race is well known, Sheng said that the PFP chairman's odds of winning would be slim, even after Yeh's withdrawal.
"Even if he decided to run, pan-blue voters may think of him as a veteran who is refusing to give the next generation a chance, which could cost him the race," Sheng said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching