The Presidential Office said yesterday that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trip to Kinmen would be paid for by both the office and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to prevent the public from thinking Ma does not distinguish between state and party affairs.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said fuel expenses for the trip would be split because six KMT officials traveled with Ma as he visited Kinmen, Hualien and Hsinchu yesterday because he attended party events in the latter two places. Ma serves concurrently as KMT chairman.
Ma traveled to Kinmen to mark the 60th anniversary of the battle of Kuningtou (古寧頭) in which Nationalist Army troops stopped the People’s Liberation Army from taking the island and threatening Taiwan proper.
PHOTO: PATRICK LIN, AFP
KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said splitting the fuel bill would set a precedent for separating party and state affairs. When president, Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) did not make an effort to institute such a mechanism when they doubled as party chairman, Lee said.
When Chen was president and chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), some entertainers even traveled on the presidential plane free of charge, he said.
Meanwhile, Ma stumbled verbally while stumping for Kinmen County commissioner candidate Lee Wo-shi (李沃士) yesterday, referring to him as Kinmen County Commissioner Li Chu-feng (李炷烽).
In Kinmen County, which has a population of about 85,000, seven candidates are vying for the county commissioner post, the highest number of hopefuls registered for one seat in the December elections.
The hopefuls include Lee Wo-shi and former KMT legislator Wu Cheng-tien (吳成典), who is running as an independent.
From his campaign appearance, Ma rode on a bicycle to Chen Tung Temple (鎮東宮) where he burned incense sticks and sat down to talk with residents. One resident urged the government to allow Kinmen residents to become legal owners of land and properties under their care for long-term absentee owners or land that is now sitting idle.
Speaking in broken Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), Ma, the Hong Kong-born descendant of Mainlander parents, said Kuningtou played a pivotal role in the history of the Republic of China because without it, there would not be Taiwan and the country would be ruled by the Chinese Communist Party.
He said his administration would study the land problems and possibility of increasing the compensation to residents who suffered losses during the battle.
Ma also pledged to eradicate vote-buying and corruption, saying during his term as minister of justice in 1993, he heard it cost NT$1,500 to buy one vote in Kinmen.
Given the island’s small population, it wouldn’t cost much for a candidate to purchase his victory,” he said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS