The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday denied media personality Clara Chou (周玉蔻) a chance to present herself at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting to appeal against her expulsion from the party.
The Evaluation and Discipline Committee of the party’s Taipei chapter on Tuesday decided to expel Chou from the party, with chapter director Chung Tse-liang (鍾則良) saying that remarks made by Chou during the campaigns leading up to the nine-in-one election on Nov. 29 had damaged the party’s reputation.
Chou has alleged that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) accepted an off-the-books political donation of NT$200 million (US$6.29 million) from Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團) during his re-election campaign in 2012.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Ma has denied the allegation and filed criminal and civil suits against Chou on Tuesday.
Earlier yesterday, Chou said she was like a person drowning after being put into a bag and thrown into the sea.
“I had no chance to fight back,” she said.
Chou was among 21 KMT members who were stripped of party membership on Tuesday for what the party said were violations of various party rules during the campaign.
Asked to respond to Chou’s comments, KMT spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) said anyone who was not happy with the decision made by the party’s Evaluation and Discipline Committee could appeal against the ruling in accordance with established procedures.
Meanwhile, former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) yesterday posted an article on Facebook rebutting Chou’s allegation that he had tried to intervene in the battle for ownership of Chang Hwa Bank (彰化銀行) between Taishin Financial Holdings (台新金控) and the Ministry of Finance in Taishin’s favor because he had dined with Chang Hwa Bank chairman Thomas Wu (吳東亮) last year.
Lo said the meeting was arranged by Chou and accused her of setting him up.
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
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
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS