Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday brushed aside speculation that he might team up with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to run in the 2012 presidential race.
“It is all unfounded rumors, regardless of whether it is about a Ma-Wang ticket or Wang-Ma ticket,” Wang said on the sideline of a fair for charity in Greater Kaohsiung yesterday.
Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) has previously said he would serve only one term.
Photo: Kuo Fang-chi, Taipei Times
Wang, a heavyweight of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has been rumored to be one of the possible candidates for a ticket with Ma in his re-election bid.
“All the rumors are false,” Wang said.
He added that he would think about what he could contribute to the country and the party during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays. He did not elaborate.
Wang later yesterday departed for the US for a 10-day visit at the invitation of two US universities.
Wang will give a speech on the key forces in Taiwan’s development at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley, on Tuesday and Friday respectively.
The speeches will be open to the public, with half the time devoted to a question-and-answer session. During his stay, Wang will also visit Congress on Wednesday and Thursday and meet several senior Congressional members before returning to Taiwan on Jan. 31.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it