Former vice premier Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) vowed to closely monitor the incoming Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration’s handling of cross-strait policies if she were to win the contest to lead the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The KMT might be too “radical” in enhancing ties between Taiwan and China in the hope of delivering on its economic promises and that would cause permanent damage to the nation, Tsai said during a radio interview yesterday.
“It’s unlikely that Taiwan will be ‘sold out,’ but it’s a worry that the country’s sovereignty may be sacrificed to economic development or other purposes,” the former chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council said.
Enhancing cross-strait ties is listed in Tsai’s 12-point election platform, but Tsai said that defending Taiwan’s sovereignty should be an uncompromising premise.
In the run-up to chairmanship election on May 18, Tsai and her two rivals — former senior presidential advisor Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) and DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) — yesterday picked up the pace in canvassing support.
Yesterday Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), former secretary-general of the Presidential Office, said Tsai should team up with Koo as his deputy. Chai yesterday also invited Tsai to be his deputy if he were to win.
Chen made his suggestion to DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) during their private meeting yesterday. Hwang Kun-hu (黃崑虎) of Tsai’s camp also attended.
“Both Chen and Hwang said that they supported Koo being chairman and Tsai being his deputy and Chai would consider dropping out of the race in that case,” Hsieh said.
Hsieh added that the meeting was unbinding as it was not a formal meeting.
“We haven’t worked out a proposal to coordinate a candidate to be the [next] chairman,” Hsieh said.
Some of the DPP’s younger members, however, were not in favor of the proposal and Tsai was warmly welcomed when she visited the party’s legislative caucus convention to drum up support.
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
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
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