The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will dispatch two five-member delegations to the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention in the US later this month and early next month respectively, a senior party official said yesterday.
In a recent meeting, the KMT decided that Deputy Legislative Speaker Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) will lead the delegation to the 2008 Democratic conference to be held in Denver, Colorado, between Aug. 25 and Aug. 28.
Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), a KMT vice chairman, will head the delegation to the Republican convention in Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota, from Sept. 1 through Sept. 4.
The purpose of the US party conventions is to officially nominate the party’s candidate for president and to adopt the party’s platform and rules.
Since Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have already locked up their candidacies for the Democratic and Republican parties respectively, the choices of their running mates will be the focus of the conventions.
A senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said that traditionally, the ministry does not dispatch delegations to the US party conventions, although high-ranking officials of Taiwan’s representative office to the US usually observe them.
KMT legislators Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), Justin Chou (周守訓), John Wu (吳志揚) and Shuai Hua-min (帥化民) are members of the delegation to the Democratic convention, while Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛), Alex Tsai (蔡正元), Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) and Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) will attend the Republican event.
The Democratic Progressive Party will also send delegations to both conventions.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and