Amid public anger over the disqualification of Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) at the Asian Games in China, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said it will voice its support for Yang in tomorrow’s rally in Taipei City, which is aimed at boosting support for Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) re-election bid ahead of the Nov. 27 elections.
The KMT’s announcement yesterday attracted criticism from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who -accused the KMT of exploiting the incident.
“The KMT has not done much to defend our athletes in the past and it should not make use of them now for their own gains,” Su said.
The KMT has been indecisive about the theme of tomorrow’s march. It had originally planned to hold the event along the lines of a traditional political rally to consolidate pan-blue support for Hau. However, the sizable number of swing voters has prompted the party to play down the political implications and it changed the rally to what is described as “a carnival-like march.”
The party had added anti-corruption and judicial reform as motifs for the event following the Nov. 5 acquittal of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in a corruption case, but later dropped the politically charged theme after Chen was sentenced to 11 yeas in another corruption case.
KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) yesterday dismissed Su’s allegation over the political motive behind the latest theme of its rally and said the DPP should refrain from exploiting the issue.
“The theme of the rally has never changed. All the things that Taipei residents support can be included in the march and we believe that Taipei residents will join us to defend Yang’s rights,” King said when announcing the latest motif of the march at a press conference.
Hau, dressed up as a pilot and standing in front of a model plane, said the incident reaffirmed the city government’s determination to apply for the hosting rights of the next Asian Games to create a fair environment for local athletes.
“Sunday’s march is being organized to make Taipei more open and internationalized and we welcome all residents, whether they are pro-blue or pro-green, to join us and walk for the city’s future,” he said.
Titled “A Walk for Taipei — Taipei Flies High,” the march will begin at Taipei City Hall at 2:30pm tomorrow and end at the East (Jingfu) Gate (景福門) in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, where a campaign party will be held from 6pm.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS