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.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
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