A day after his election as a Greater Kaohsiung City councilor, former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son spoke about his jailed father and an alliance of municipal council members who insist that Taiwan and China are separate countries.
Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), 31, won 32,947 votes, more than any other candidate running in the Greater Kaohsiung City Council election on Saturday.
As a member of the new “one side, one country” alliance, a political group dedicated to promoting Taiwan’s independence, Chen Chih-chung claimed that victory for him and other like-minded candidates signified an endorsement by voters.
More than 30 members of the alliance won council seats in the election, with nearly one-third becoming councilors in Greater Tainan, a municipality merging Tainan City and Tainan County.
Most members of the alliance are also members of the Democratic Progressive Party.
Chen Chih-chung attributed his big win to voters’ support for his father and said he would fight “for his father’s innocence.”
Earlier this month, the former president and his wife were each sentenced by the Supreme Court to a total of 19 years in jail on a series of corruption charges.
The younger Chen has his own share of legal problems. In a money-laundering case, he was sentenced by a higher court in June to 14 months in prison and fined NT$30 million (US$937,500). His appeal is pending in the Supreme Court. In July a tabloid magazine linked Chen Chih-chung to a prostitute. Although Chen filed libel lawsuits against the magazine and a rival politician, a district court ruled against him in both cases.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
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