The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday dismissed speculation about a quid pro quo deal with China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) Chairman Chang An-le (張安樂), alias the White Wolf.
Chang, a former leader of the Bamboo Union gang who spent many years in China while being on Taiwan’s most-wanted list for alleged violations of the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪條例), on Wednesday led a large group of supporters to campaign for the KMT’s candidate in the Hualien mayoral by-election.
“KMT Hualien mayoral candidate Wei Chia-hsien’s (魏嘉賢) campaign headquarters did not arrange for Chang’s visit. Chang came of his own volition to show his support for Wei’s down-to-earth and honest campaigning style,” KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Chow Chi-wai (周志偉) said.
Urging the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to refrain from malicious campaign strategies, Chow said the DPP’s continued use of mudslinging would only backfire, further hurting President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval ratings.
Chow’s remarks came just hours after DPP spokeswoman Chiu Li-li (邱莉莉), at a Taipei news conference, said KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) should explain to the public what kind of a deal was reached with Chang.
Pointing to a photograph of Chang, Wei, Wei’s father, as well as a number of KMT Central Standing Committee members, Chiu said Chang and his group were making Hualien residents jittery.
“Is this what Hung meant by nominating a competent candidate with a good public image to win the hearts of voters? She has apparently slapped her own face,” Chiu said.
As Chang and Wei’s father are old acquaintances, Wei should say what kind of agreements have been made between the pair to assuage voters’ concerns, Chiu said.
The by-election, scheduled for Saturday next week, is to select a successor to the DPP’s Tien Chih-hsuan (田智宣), who died of lung cancer in May aged 56.
Tien’s widow, Chang Mei-hui (張美慧), is running as the DPP’s candidate and three former KMT members are running as independents after being expelled by the KMT because they insisted on running in the by-election.
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