Independent Legislator Li Ao (
Li, one of three pan-blue camp affiliated candidates for the year-end election, said during a press conference that his candidature would not influence the unity of pan-blue camp because he was the most senior in the camp.
Li said he was targeting former premier and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Frank Hsieh (
PHOTO: CNA
Li said his rivals should "know when to back out of the election," adding that he would act as a mayor who fights against "bad central government" instead of a mayor who "maintains bridges and roads" because a mayor should "plan municipal administration from a multilateral perspective."
Li said he would not be holding campaigning events or putting up posters or banners but would try to win support by appearing on talk shows and holding public debates with rival candidates instead.
In the face of another pan-blue candidate entering the race, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that since Li has a lot of influence on the public, his decision to run in the election posed "a big threat" to Hau.
"This [the election] will be a tough battle for Hau," Ma said. "So we will work harder."
Hau said yesterday that he believes that pan-blue supporters would concentrate their votes on one candidate in an effort to counter the DPP candidate.
He said he was confident that he would win the support of the pan-blue electorate and win the election.
In addition to Li, People First Party Chairman James Soong (
When asked for comments during a campaign event yesterday, Hsieh said: "[Having more than one pan-blue candidate] shows that they [PFP chairman Soong and Li] think Hau is not a suitable candidate."
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
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