Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday sat down with 88 advisers to the Executive Yuan for a two-hour closed-door meeting followed by lunch, with some of the attendees being voter brokers who are influential in mobilizing people in elections.
Among the participants who have drawn media attention were Chen Ting-yun (陳釘雲), a former president of the Changhua County Farmland Irrigation Association, and Liang Chun-liang (梁俊良), former president of the Taitung County Farmland Irrigation Association.
Observers say that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has long knitted together local networks of politicians in every country and city for the purpose of mobilizing votes.
Also at the meeting, two Cabinet advisers were appointed: Chen Tien-pu (陳田圃), who is connected with former Kaohsiung City Council speaker Chen Tien-mao (陳田錨), whose family is considered to be one of the three most politically influential in Greater Kaohsiung; and former National Assembly member Lin Chin-nung (林欽濃), a leader of Greater Taichung’s Red Faction.
Also attending was former Pingtung County Council speaker Chen Chin-hsing (陳進興), a local faction leader who has been campaigning for KMT Kaohsiung mayoral candidate, Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) — who served as Executive Yuan minister without portfolio since 2012.
The number of advisers to the Executive Yuan, a position without remuneration, has increased to 200 from 40 since 2012, when Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) was premier.
Jiang met the other 112 advisers on Friday last week.
In his opening remarks yesterday, Jiang said he appreciated suggestions the advisers have been offering to the Cabinet on policy implementation, saying that they are elites and have rich experience and professionalism from all walks of life.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
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