Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials dismissed media speculation yesterday that KMT Chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄) plans to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
When approached for comment, KMT Communication and Culture Committee chief Huang Yu-cheng (黃玉振) said the party did not know of any plan to hold such a meeting.
He did not elaborate.
Huang's remark came after a story in the Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday citing an anonymous source as saying that China had taken the initiative to invite Wu to meet Hu in Beijing by May 20.
The source said that KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), the designated chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), would meet Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) fourth ranking official, during a trip to China this week to negotiate details of the Wu-Hu meeting.
The story also said that Wu planned to encourage Taiwanese athletes to attend the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer.
However, Chang Rong-kung (張榮恭), director of the KMT's Mainland Affairs Department, said yesterday that Chiang did not plan to visit Beijing during his trip to China from Thursday to Sunday, adding that his destinations only included Shanghai, Kunshan, Xiamen and Shenzhen.
The KMT announced yesterday that Chiang Pin-kun would visit the cities to thank KMT supporters for their role in the party's presidential election success.
In related news, premier-designate Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) is scheduled to announce the new government's Cabinet lineup this morning.
However, president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) remained low-profile yesterday regarding the future education minister.
During a visit to Yong Kang Elementary School in Tainan County, Ma stressed the importance of education, saying that the nation had only been able to take the lead in the international high-tech industry because of the its education system.
When asked for comment, Wu Ching-chi (吳清基), director of Taipei's Education Department, who has been tipped in the media to take over at the Ministry of Education, was also tight-lipped on the issue.
Meanwhile, Steve Chan (詹啟賢), Ma's top aide, admitted that he and Ma's long-term aide King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) disagreed on certain issues during the presidential campaign but shrugged off media speculation that he declined to join Ma's administration because he had fallen out with King.
"I did not leave because I felt wronged and acted rashly, for this would be wrong," Chan said when approached by reporters in front of his residence in Taipei.
Being in the presidential campaign and becoming a member of the Cabinet were different, he said, adding that "those who had been designated as Cabinet officials were not necessarily part of the campaign."
Chan said he would continue to offer Ma assistance until Ma assumes office on May 20.
"[Even if I am] not going to be a member of the administration, we remain good friends. [I] can still give him a lot of advice," he said.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
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