Former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) has announced his campaign team for his bid to become chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), as well as a campaign theme song.
Wu on Friday said that he has asked former Mainland Affairs Council deputy minister Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) to be the campaign manager, while Shih Chien University professor Chiang Min-chin (江岷欽), former KMT lawmaker Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) and National Taiwan University professor Lin Huo-wang (林火旺) have been asked to act as spokespeople.
Wu’s campaign office will be in the Taiwan Glass building on Nanjing E Road in Taipei and will officially open after the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Friday next week until Feb. 1.
Photo: CNA
Wu said he wrote the lyrics for the campaign song himself, adding that he wanted to write a song that sounded good and was easy to remember.
In response to media queries whether his choice of Chang as campaign manager would be an issue given his previous legal troubles, Wu said he had known Chang for more than a decade and his contribution toward the KMT and People First Party alliance in 2008 was quite significant.
In 2014 Chang was accused by then-president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration of leaking state secrets to China. The Taipei Prosecutors’ Office in 2015 said that it had closed the case because there was not enough evidence to support the allegations.
Meanwhile, former KMT vice chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢), who tendered his resignation on Jan. 7, said he was considering running in the chairperson election, adding that he would not make the decision quickly.
Chan said he would try to make a decision before the Lunar New Year holidays.
The Chinese-language China Times reported on Jan. 7 that Chan quit over KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) disavowal of an administrative contract that he secured from Ill-gotten Party Assets Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄), which was said to be fully authorized by Hung, but which she later refused to sign.
Hung has dismissed the report, asking the media not to “maliciously drive a wedge” between her and Chan.
Additional reporting by Liao Shu-ling
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
Passengers on Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) will be required to use headphones and make phone calls in gangways under new “quiet travel” rules starting Sept. 22. THSR Chairman Shih Che (史哲) told media that THSR will run a three-month promotional campaign to ensure widespread adoption of the new rules. Those repeatedly ignoring the guidance face the potential termination of their transport contract, which can result in them getting escorted off the train, according to THSR. Shih shared his hope to cultivate an environment conducive to rest and reading for the train’s passengers, stating that these changes aim to “promote self-discipline” among passengers
RSS