Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday acknowledged that his sister, Ma Yi-nan (馬以南), had met Chang An-le (張安樂), the former leader of the Bamboo Union gang, but denied receiving political donations from the gangster.
"I knew my sister solicited support at a campaign event for me, but I wasn't aware she had met Chang. I will ask her to be more careful next time," Ma said yesterday at his campaign headquarters.
A story in the latest issue of Next Magazine said that Ma Yi-nan met Chang during a campaign party in June held by Taiwanese businesspeople in Shenzhen, China. It reported that Chang had agreed to make donations for Ma Ying-jeou's campaign.
Chang, nicknamed the White Wolf, is wanted by Taiwanese authorities and is in hiding in China.
Ma spokesman Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said yesterday that Ma Yi-nan had been invited to attend the event, where, with Chang present, she sought to win support for Ma. Luo said, however, that the event in question was held in June rather than in April.
Luo said that at the time, Ma Ying-jeou had yet to be formally nominated by the KMT and that therefore no political donations were made.
Luo said the Ma camp had handled all political donations in accordance with the law.
The Ma camp also dismissed allegations by Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) camp that another sister of Ma Ying-jeou, Theresa Chao (馬冰如), was a principal at a school in Beijing and that the candidate's promise to recognize educational background from China would therefore benefit that school.
Luo said the International School of Beijing invited Chao to teach at the school in 1998 and that she has since become the principal of the school's Chinese department.
Also see: MOEA announces it will postpone joint venture with UAE
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
An elderly man with underlying health conditions died in mid-January, eight days after the onset of symptoms, marking Taiwan’s first hantavirus death this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The man, who was in his 70s and lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安), tested positive posthumously for hantavirus after passing away on Jan. 13 from sepsis complicated by multiple organ failure and pneumonia, the CDC said in a press release. According to the CDC, the man sought treatment on Jan. 6 for respiratory issues and low blood pressure before returning two
RSS