Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"The parties' relationship could be described as a knot, as the two are entwined together," Wang told reporters.
A day after the government-sponsored statute aimed at divesting the KMT of its stolen assets was placed on the legislative agenda as a result of an about-face by the PFP, heavyweights from both parties visited Wang one after the other yesterday morning, presumably to discuss the issue.
The PFP's actions have been interpreted by some as a revenge attack after the reputation of Chairman James Soong (
Soong, who initially hoped to represent the pan-blue camp as a candidate in the year-end Taipei mayoral election, declared his candidacy as an independent last Tuesday.
Reports in the Chinese-language United Daliy News and China Times on Saturday said that Ma, during an interview with a foreign news outlet, had talked about holding secret meetings with Soong in a bid to talk the PFP chairman out of running in the election. Ma allegedly told the journalists that he had been unsuccessful because he could not meet Soong's conditions.
Although the KMT immediately denied the report, the PFP said the episode would complicate its relations with the KMT.
Denying speculation that placing the statute on the legislative agenda was merely a bluff, PFP Legislator Hwang Yih-jiau (
"Even though the foundations established by Soong would also be subject to the statute, we still advocate reviewing the statute on party assets," Hwang said.
Hwang made the comment in response to a report in yesterday's Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper), in which a KMT heavyweight was quoted as saying that Soong's foundations were established with KMT assets which Soong amassed when he served as the party's secretary-general.
KMT caucus whip Tsai Chin-lung (
"We just didn't expect it to happen so fast. During the regular KMT-PFP meeting [on Monday], we had a good conversation," Tsai said. "We initially thought that [Tuesday's] Procedure Committee meeting would proceed as we had discussed with the PFP on Monday. Not until 10 minutes before the Procedure Committee meeting did the PFP inform us that it would allow the statute [to be placed on the agenda]."
Ma said that his party was not opposed to the statute in principle, but that it opposed the fact that it targeted the KMT.
"We are not afraid of facing the party asset issue, but we don't accept any attempts to liquidate us," Ma said at KMT headquarters.
According to Ma, the KMT will propose its own version of the political party law which will deal with the party asset issue.
Ma acknowledged that some of the KMT's assets were acquired inappropriately, but argued that it had offered a report detailing its assets on Aug. 23 and had promised to deal with the issue as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, anti-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) campaign leader Shih Ming-teh (施明德) said yesterday that he had called Soong last week to persuade him to place the controversial statute on the agenda.
"Party assets are a historic burden for the KMT. If [the party] doesn't deal with [the issue] now, it will follow the party like a shadow to the 2007 legislative election and the 2008 presidential election," the former DPP chairman said.
The anti-Chen campaign's newfound support for the statute, however, met with a negative response from some of its supporters, who said they had joined the campaign to demand Chen's resignation, rather than to fight the KMT.
Shih responded that it was normal for protesters to have different opinions.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data