The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate yesterday poured scorn on a proposal from the People First Party (PFP) that the two opposition groups should conduct a survey to decide the pan-blue camp's candidate for the Taipei race.
"Since I was elected as KMT's candidate through its primary, which was held in a democratic way, I am more legitimate than anyone [else] to represent the party," Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said yesterday in the legislature.
The KMT chose Hau as its candidate in a party primary on Sunday after he won 60 percent of the vote from party members and Taipei residents, beating Legislator Ting Shou-chung (
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FENG, TAIPEI TIMES
Hau visited the KMT caucus yesterday to seek support, he said, since most of his votes on Sunday came from non-party members.
After the primary, PFP Chairman James Soong (
"It seemed to me that the suggestion was `green room politics' [closed-door negotiations]. While I didn't get many votes among party members, I am the legitimate KMT candidate," Hau said.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said on Monday the party would consider Soong's suggestion and a resolution acceptable to both parties could be adopted.
KMT Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), who withdrew from the primary late last month, said Sunday's results should be respected.
"Some tensions among party members during the primary process were unavoidable, but I urge pan-blue supporters to back Hau and respect the result of the primary," he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai