President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is meeting up with his presidential campaign team in Yilan County today to join part of their around-the-nation bicycle tour, with film star Brigitte Lin (林青霞) expected to make an appearance.
Ma, who is seeking re-election in January, will join the cyclists on a journey from Nanao (南澳) to Jiaosi Township (礁溪) and meet up with Lin to visit an Italian priest who has lived in Taiwan for almost 60 years.
The bicycle tour, “ROCbike Taiwan Bravo,” is a nationwide bicycle tour launched by Ma’s campaign office earlier this month. Ma’s team embarked on a similar tour during his presidential campaign in 2007.
The “long stay” bicycle tour, which saw Ma and his campaign team travel through 18 cities and counties through the country’s western plains and finished in then-Taipei County, was believed to have helped bolster Ma’s chances in the last election.
This year’s 15-day “ROCbike Taiwan Bravo” bicycle tour will cover 1,181km and finish in Hualien County.
King Pu-tsung (金溥聰), executive director of Ma’s campaign office, met the cyclists last week in Taitung County as part of a campaign activity, while Ma is expected to join more bicycle-related activities as the presidential election approaches.
Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國), director of Ma’s campaign office’s new generation division, said campaign staff who joined the bicycle tour this time would come into contact with more people at the grassroots level and the office plans to promote the contributions to the nation of ordinary Taiwanese.
In addition to Lin, she said the campaign office would invite more celebrities and influential Taiwanese figures to join the bicycle tour.
Ma’s campaign team will also set up its campaign office for central Taiwan in Greater Taichung tomorrow.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS