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.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
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US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
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