Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lean’s (連勝文) campaign office came in for criticism again yesterday over a campaign advertisement.
There has been a groundswell among netizens accusing the office of plagiarizing a TV commercial produced by the California State Lottery promoting “the power of five” in a campaign ad aimed at showing that Lien is determined to address food safety issues if he is elected.
Jerry Fan (范可欽), an advertising consultant hired by Lien’s office to produce five commercials covering Lien’s policies on various issues, told a press conference yesterday that he used “the power of five” as a “reference” in producing the campaign ad, but he rejected the accusation of plagiarism.
Photo: Lu Heng-chien, Taipei Times
“Saying that what we have done amounts to plagiarism is outrageous,” Fan said.
Fan’s Chinese name is Fan Ko-chin, and some netizens made a play on words by calling him ko chin fan (可侵犯), which means “can be infringed or violated,” to imply that he believes copyrights can be infringed.
Fan said that the public will see that the ideas he has included in the five advertisements are entirely different from those of “the power of five” after they see the remaining three commercials, which are to be released soon.
Fan was involved in a plagiarism controversy in December last year, after he was hired by the Keelung City Government to promote the installation of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s Rubber Duck in Keelung Harbor and allowed unauthorized Rubber Duck merchandise to be put on sale at the event.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
RSS