Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus whip Alex Fai (費鴻泰) yesterday confirmed the existence of a “PK team” that had reportedly been set up at the order of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to have KMT lawmakers help the party’s campaign efforts for the nine-in-one elections.
Fai, who questioned National Audit Office Auditor-General, Lin Ching-long (林慶隆), on Thursday on the MG149 account controversy that involves independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and threatened to shelve the agency’s budget, said yesterday that the PK team is not aimed at Ko.
“PK” stands for “player killer” and is an online gaming term for players who hunt rivals’ virtual characters to kill them, rather than collaborate with others to solve missions or try to defeat non-player characters in a game.
The term colloquially refers to any one-on-one showdown. Some sources said the term could refer to “penalty kick,” a soccer term.
“The PK team is established by the party caucus whenever there are major events or decisions to be made, and the team collects relevant information and reports it to the public. The mechanism has been in operation for years,” Fai said.
He said he sent out requests to KMT legislators more than a month ago seeking those interested in joining it.
“It is not targeting MG149, which is a small case,” Fai said, adding that the team is also for investigating recent issues such as the tainted cooking oil scandal and the Greater Kaohsiung gas pipeline explosions.
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾), who ignited the MG149 dispute early last month by accusing Ko of corruption via the shared MG149 bank account — a public account for National Taiwan University Hospital’s (NTUH) surgical intensive care unit — while serving as its head, said she was glad “that the party caucus has finally realized that MG149 is problematic.”
“At first, only I saw the problem, but now the fact is gradually unveiling itself. With the party caucus [involved], we can make Taipei residents understand that the MG149 account is truly flawed,” Lo said.
To Ko’s call for the KMT not to attack NTUH and national medical research for political purposes, Lo said, “You asked people not to attack it, but you are hurting the institution; do not drag NTUH into this.”
“I suggest that Ko does not hurt NTUH’s academic spirit through his illegal actions,” she added.
Lo said she would attend the legislature’s committee meeting next week, which requires NTUH superintendent Huang Guan-tarn (黃冠棠) to attend, to question him.
Additional reporting by Sean Lin
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS