At a ceremony marking the party's relocation to a smaller headquarters, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged party members to endure current hardships for the sake of accomplishing the KMT's ambition of regaining the reins of government.
Likening President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to Yuan Shih-kai (袁世凱), a warlord in the early 1900s who overthrew the Republic of China and declared himself emperor, Ma said it is time for the KMT's rebirth through reform.
"As a democratic political party, the KMT needs to observe social trends and listen to public opinion ? The relocation of KMT headquarters is the party's first step to becoming a clean party with ideals," Ma said yesterday during the party's housewarming celebration for its new headquarters.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The party sold its headquarters on Zhongshan S Road to Evergreen Corp for NT$2.3 billion (US$70 million) in March and moved to the current site on Bade Road on Monday.
Ma said moving to the new headquarters illustrated the KMT's resolve for reform and for meeting office by reducing expenditures. The new premises' annual maintenance fees of NT$8 million are one-fifth of the maintenance fees at the old residence (NT$40 million).
During the long period in which the party governed Taiwan, the headquarters once housed around 4,000 party workers. After the KMT lost power in 2000, the party began to downsize. There will only be about 120 party workers left when the KMT moves to its new building on Bade Road.
Echoing Ma's remarks, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) called on KMT members to follow Ma's leadership to win back power from the DPP in 2008.
"Since Chairman Ma has taken over the chairmanship, he has made the KMT a small but strong party," Wang said yesterday at the party function. "Now we all share a common goal of winning back government in 2008. Let's all support Chairman Ma to reach this goal."
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS