New Party legislators yesterday expressed outrage at the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) call for pan-blue voters to consolidate their support and back the KMT. They accused the KMT of trying to boost its own support at the expense of its ally the New Party.
"Voting for the New Party will not weaken the pan-blue camp's power. Pan-blue voters don't need to worry about a pan-blue split if they support the New Party," said KMT Legislator Joanna Lei (
The KMT has been taking out campaign advertisements calling on pan-blue voters to throw their weight behind the KMT, saying that casting ballots for smaller parties would only be a waste of votes and help President Chen Shui-bian (
Lai and New Party legislator-at-large candidate Chou Yan-shan (
They said the pan-blue camp would maintain a majority in the legislature even if the New Party attracted 5 percent of valid votes.
In response to the New Party's condemnation, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday said the ads were not targeted at any particular small party.
The KMT and New Party remained "brother parties," despite some disputes over the distribution of votes, Wu said.
"There's a 5-percent threshold for party votes, and not every party can pass that threshold. The KMT's advertising campaign is aimed at opposing the DPP and its chairman, Chen Shui-bian," Wu said at KMT headquarters in Taipei.
Former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
"It would be a waste of ballots if they were split. Any waste of votes would only encourage the corrupt government," Lien said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
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