Former presidential adviser Lin Yang-kang (林洋港), a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) heavyweight who faded from the political scene after losing the nation’s first direct presidential election in 1996 to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), died on Saturday midnight of intestinal obstruction and organ failure. He was 87.
Lin, also known as Uncle A-Kang (阿港伯), was one of the so-called “Taiwanese youths” cultivated by the KMT to consolidate grassroots support. He had served as Nantou County commissioner, Taipei mayor, chairman of Taiwan Province, minister of the interior and head of the Judicial Yuan, and was once seen as the likely successor to former president Chiang Ching-kou (蔣經國).
Chiang instead picked Lee as his vice president, which sparked a power struggle between Lin and Lee. In the 1996 presidential election, Lin violated KMT regulations and paired up with former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) to compete against Lee and former vice president Lien Chan (連戰). The Lin-Hau ticket lost the election and Lin’s party membership was revoked for years until the KMT restored it in 2005.
Photo: CNA
Lin left politics after retiring from his post as an adviser to the Presidential Office in 2006, and went to live in Greater Taichung with his family.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday expressed his condolences to Lin’s family and praised Lin’s life-long dedication and achievements, including the decision to build the Taipei Feitsui Reservoir in 1978 amid concerns about the reservoir’s possible threat to local residents’ safety if it were destroyed in a natural disaster.
“His vision allowed people in the Greater Taipei area to enjoy clean and cheap drinking water for the past 20 years. It was a very wise decision,” Ma said in a written statement.
Ma also expressed his gratitude for Lin’s advice, saying he had often discussed judicial matters with Lin when serving as minister of justice. Lin, then the minister of the Judicial Yuan, helped facilitate cooperation between the Judicial Yuan and the Ministry of Justice.
KMT heavyweights, including Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), son of Hau Pei-tsun, also expressed regret over Lin’s death.
Wang described Lin as a respectful politician who made great achievements, and said politicians in future generations should learn from his dedication to Taiwan’s development.
Hau Lung-bin thanked Lin for building the Feitsui Reservoir for Taipei, saying it prevented a shortage of drinking water for Greater Taipei residents.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS