The Third Society Party said yesterday that it hopes to strengthen dialogue with former president Lee Teng-hui (
Lee has been urging the public to support a "third force," or moderate voices, in next year's legislative and presidential elections, to give a voice to the disadvantaged and the middle class.
TSU spokeswoman Chou Mei-li (
Chou said that she did not think Lee -- the TSU's spiritual leader -- would talk about a merger.
Chou made the remarks in response to media inquiries about a letter sent to Lee by the Third Society Party on Monday.
Titled "Dialogue between Christians: An open letter to former president Lee" and written by Third Society Party cofounder Lin Chih-jen (林致真), the letter expressed the hope of consulting with Lee about his call to young people to form a new political party.
Lin, who said he was a Christian, said that Lee likes to think of himself like Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt. Joshua took over for Moses when the Israelites entered Canaan but began to sin not long after Joshua's death.
Lin asked Lee if he thought the jobs of Moses and Joshua were complete since Taiwanese have a country of their own.
"The third society must emerge and help the people of Taiwan develop common interests," the letter states. "It does not have any reason to protect a degenerating regime ... The third society is committed to promoting universal values, pursuing a just society and building a country that is fair and democratic."
Meanwhile, a half-page ad in the Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday urged "sacred warriors" to join the "sacred war" to save Taiwan by running in the January elections.
The ad said the warriors' goal was to end the infighting between the pan-blue and pan-green camps.
The ad bore the signature of tycoon Winston Wang (王文洋). But Wang said he did not place the ad, although he supported its message.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS