The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged Hualien County residents to vote against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate in the by-election for Hualien mayor, saying it would serve as a vote of confidence in President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, which it said has devastated the nation’s tourism industry with a refusal to face the so-called “1992 consensus.”
Speaking at a news conference in Taipei, KMT Culture and Communications Committee director Chow Chi-wai (周志偉) said Tsai’s reluctance to accept the “1992 consensus” has caused cross-strait relations to run aground.
The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted to making up in 2000, refers to a supposed understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times
Chow said stalled cross-strait ties have taken a toll on the tourism industry, the effects of which are particularly felt by Hualien residents.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said bad policy is worse than corruption, citing what he said was former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) closed-door policy that led to a slowdown in tourism and many other industries.
“According to statistics compiled by the Hualien Home Stay Association, bed-and-breakfast establishments aimed at Chinese tourists have seen bookings decline by 50 percent, and occupancy rates drop to 30 percent,” Hung said, accusing Tsai of attaching no importance to people’s livelihoods.
Statistics from the Hualien Tourism Department showed that the number of tourists to the county between May and last month has been on the decline, Hung said.
Urging the tourism department to come up with responsive measures, Hung also called on Tsai to take concrete actions if she does not want to be judged by her short-term performance.
Saturday’s by-election is to vote for a successor to former Hualien mayor 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 against the KMT’s Wei Chia-hsien (魏嘉賢). Three former KMT members are running as independents after being expelled by the KMT because they insisted on running in the by-election.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching