Chinese authorities are helping the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) encourage Taiwanese businesspeople based in China to return to Taiwan to vote in the Nov. 29 nine-in-one elections through multiple channels, including chapters of China’s Taiwan Affairs Council and local Chinese officials, sources said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as KMT chairman, has ordered the party to exert as much effort as it did in previous presidential elections to have China-based Taiwanese businesspeople return to vote, the sources added.
Despite recent friction between the Ma administration and Beijing over Ma’s remarks on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, China has extended its helping hand, they said.
According to people familiar with the KMT, Chinese authorities have been involved in reminding China-based Taiwanese businesspeople about the election to a degree that was seen only in the presidential elections in 2008 and 2012.
That seems somewhat unusual this year, because the elections are for local offices, sources said, adding that the extent of the effort that Chinese authorities have put into the mobilization shows that they regard the election as a precursor to the 2016 presidential election.
Some associations of China-based Taiwanese businesspeople have managed to secure cheaper flights available from between Nov. 20 and Nov. 28, with cheaper returning tickets available within a week after the election day, sources said.
It is estimated that there are more than 1 million Taiwanese living in China. About 210,000 people returned to vote in the 2012 presidential election.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS