Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday criticized his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterpart of lacking sincerity by making random comments on running mate choices.
"[KMT presidential candidate] Ma Ying-jeou (
"If he keeps picking his running mates one after another, his final running mate may feel as if he or she were regarded as a second-class choice," he said.
Hsieh made the comments yesterday in response to a press query on media speculation that Ma could invite former vice premier Tsai Ing-wen (
Yesterday's Chinese-language China Times and United Daily News each quoted anonymous sources close to Ma's campaign as saying that Ma could consult Tsai on the possibility of teaming up for next year's presidential election.
The newspapers said that Tsai had been included to the list of Ma's potential running candidates because of her substantial financial expertise and administrative experience.
The reports added that having Tsai as his running mate could help Ma expand his public support since Tsai is well regarded by both pan-blue and "light-green" supporters.
Ma was forced to find another vice presidential candidate after Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on Thursday ended months of speculation by turning down Ma's invitation to be his running mate.
Wang cited hectic work at the legislature as the reason for his decision.
Despite a KMT caucus resolution on Friday urging Ma and Wang to pair up, Wang said yesterday that his decision remained unchanged and that he had clearly stated his reasons.
Asked about his choice of a running mate, Hsieh yesterday said he would not make any hasty comments because doing so would be disrespectful to the candidate who would eventually pair up with him.
Hsieh is expected to gather the opinion of various sources, kicking off yesterday with a month-long plan to visit grassroots movements and various townships around the country.
Commenting on the media reports, DPP Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said Ma's campaign was trying to exploit Tsai's popularity by including Tsai in the list.
DPP Legislator Lin Yu-sheng (
KMT Legislator Shyu Jong-shyoung (
Additional reporting by staff writer
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater