Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma, who is also the mayor of Taipei, is scheduled to deliver three speeches during his six-day Japan visit, which will take him to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Yokohama.
Prior to his departure from CKS International Airport, Ma said that while in Tokyo, he would meet with Japanese political and parliamentary heavyweights to exchange views on matters of mutual concern, mainly party affairs and cross-strait relations.
Ma is also expected to meet with municipal officials in each of the four cities he visits to exchange views on city infrastructure development and related topics.
He is expected to deliver three speeches during his visit.
Upon his arrival in Tokyo, Ma was warmly greeted by Tai-wanese expatriates living in Japan at Tokyo's Narita airport.
Ma said that he could get to know Japan better through the six-day visit, his first since assuming the KMT chairmanship last August.
Meanwhile, Ma said that he was not worried that he might be viewed as "pro-China" by some Japanese, claiming that Japan is more "pro-China" than Taiwan and that in these fast-changing times, no country could afford not to engage with China.
Ma denied reports that he was an "anti-Japan" activist, even though he questioned the propriety of Japan's prime minister visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, including convicted World War II Japanese war criminals.
Ma also brushed off recent speculation that several business tycoons, including Wang You-tseng (
Ma said that he did not have the slightest idea about the speculation and that he was not interested in making any comment on it.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS