Shrugging off the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) regulations that prohibit members from campaigning for other parties' candidates, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
The Soong biography, entitled Ninety Percent Secret, documents his experience as Taiwan provincial governor when he enjoyed a public support rate of more than 90 percent. The book is seen as a warm-up to Soong's formal declaration of his candidacy for the Taipei mayoral post no later than next month.
Speaking at the book presentation, Wang lauded Soong's leadership and efforts to understand the public's need by visiting all cities and counties around the country when he served as Taiwan provincial governor.
"Chairman Soong is an affectionate, righteous and reasonable leader ... He is more capable than many politicians," Wang said at the event, which was held at Taipei Youth Activity Center.
Wang also complimented Soong's recent efforts to visit all districts in Taipei to address the need of the city's residents.
"I believe he will respond to the residents' problems with the best solutions ... I will say no more," he said.
Wang's support for Soong came in the face of the KMT's new regulations banning members from attending any campaign events held by opposition candidates in the year-end Kaohsiung and Taipei mayoral and city councilor elections.
Given that no KMT member would campaign for pan-green camp candidates, PFP Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (
Soong yesterday joked about the KMT's campaign ban, saying his aides had reminded him not to make any announcement regarding the election at the ceremony "in case the announcement makes things difficult for speaker Wang."
Expressing his desire to "serve the residents of Taipei," Soong added that he would take advantage of his experience as provincial governor, to "rediscover the nation's core values."
"The purpose of politics is to serve the people ... We need to find the basic values of a democratic society, which is that the people are the king," he said.
Soong criticized the Taipei City Government's lack of resolution and passivity in building Taipei into an international city. He then invited the media to accompany him on a tour of inspection of various municipal constructions around the city and listen to his proposed solutions.
Also present at the event was Independent Legislator Li Ao (
"If such an unfair situation can't be changed and people do not support candidates based on their political achievements, then it's not worth it for Chairman Soong to join the election," he said.
Claiming Soong's political achievements should be graded a hundred percent, rather than 90 percent, Li urged pan-blue supporters to "break the Hau Lung-bin spell" and support Soong instead.
The book chronicling Soong's service as provincial governor was written by Ma Xi-ping (馬西屏), who has also authored books on former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Wang said that he would buy 1,000 copies and send them to family and friends.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods