President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign office yesterday launched a three-day democracy camp with students in Greater Tainan, with Ma and top campaign officials meeting with young people as part of efforts to strengthen KMT support in southern Taiwan.
Ma executive campaign director King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) yesterday addressed the opening ceremony of the “Democracy Election Camp,” encouraging the 72 participating students to get more involved in politics and contribute to the democratic development of Taiwan.
“Taiwan’s democracy requires the efforts of younger generations, and we need all of you to join us in making Taiwan a better place,” he said at the camp at Sheng Mu Temple.
Ma will visit the camp and meet with students tomorrow, Ma’s campaign office spokesman Yin Wei (殷瑋) said. The campaign office sought to help young people discover their passion for public affairs, and will invite members in the camp to join the election campaign team, he said.
Yin said the camp is part of the president’s re-election campaign to attract support from first-time voters who, polls show, are mostly undecided.
As Ma’s top campaign strategist, King has recruited younger staff to run his campaign through social-networking media, such as Facebook, and has been meeting university students at conferences for the past few months.
The camp will run until tomorrow, and Ma deputy campaign director Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) and well-known columnist Yang Chao (楊照) will also attend the camp to share their experiences on election campaigns with the students.
Holding the camp in Greater Tainan, a traditional pan-green stronghold, highlighted the campaign office’s attempt to solicit support in the south, Yin said.
Ma will also visit fishermen in Greater Kaohsiung tomorrow to discuss agricultural policies.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
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
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai