Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday accused Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), one of her opponents in the special municipality election next month, of failing to choose the “Taiwanese side” and instead embracing People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).
Chen said at a campaign rally in Yenchao Township (燕巢), Kaohsiung County, she was saddened by Yang’s failure to give priority to Taiwanese interests — by siding with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — and instead forming an alliance with Soong, who is from the pan-blue camp.
Yang, a former DPP member, is running for mayor of the area that to become Greater Kaohsiung as an independent candidate against Chen and Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
PHOTO: CNA
Soong surprised many by showing up at a major campaign rally for Yang on Oct. 17, prompting concern within the pan-blue camp about the impact of a split between the KMT and the PFP regarding the possible election performance of Huang, who is already trailing Chen by a substantial margin.
Responding to Chen’s comments, Yang yesterday said the Kaohsiung mayor was “exploiting political ideology” and “inciting ethnic conflict,” an accusation that has often been leveled at the DPP by the pan-blue camp.
Yang said he would ally with whoever is fighting for Taiwan regardless of his or her political affiliations.
Meanwhile, Huang yesterday filed a lawsuit against the Kaohsiung Election Commission for allowing Yang Tung-yi (楊統一), who is running as an independent for city councilor, in his campaign platform, which appeared in the commission’s official election -bulletin, to state his support for Yang Chiu-hsing and call on voters to oppose Huang.
Huang also filed a provisional disposition demanding that the commission suspend its schedule to print and distribute the -document. This was the first time in the nation’s history that a candidate filed a provisional disposition against an official election bulletin.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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