President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday instructed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to spare no effort in campaigning for the party’s candidates in November’s special municipality elections.
Ma, in his capacity as KMT chairman, demanded that the party’s Huang Fuxing branch fully cooperate with the party’s campaigning schedule for the elections when he presided over its leadership hand-over ceremony.
The Huang Fuxing branch was established in 1956 by former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) to attract the support of veterans. The branch is composed of retired military members, their families and other deep-blue members, and has played a crucial role in election campaigns with its more than 200,000 members.
Ma yesterday thanked outgoing director Wang Wen-hsieh (王文燮) for taking over after the KMT lost the presidential election to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2000, and said he expected incoming director King En-chin (金恩慶) to maintain the branch as a key component of the KMT.
“As an important part of the KMT, I hope the Huang Fuxing branch will cooperate with the party’s strategies and help the party win in upcoming elections,” he said yesterday at KMT headquarters.
As the five special municipality elections approach, the KMT has determined candidates in four cities — Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) for Taipei City, Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) for Sinbei City, Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) for Greater Taichung and KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) for Greater Kaohsiung.
The party remains in negotiations to determine its candidate for Greater Tainan.
KMT Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said yesterday that the party had conducted two polls in the city, adding that two hopefuls — former KMT legislators Kuo Tien-tsai (郭添財) and Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) — had tied in both polls.
Su said the KMT would finalize its Greater Tainan candidate by the end of the month.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
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An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition