The New Party yesterday officially nominated Youth Corps director Yang Shih-kuang (楊世光) as its candidate for next year’s presidential election, with Yang saying that if elected, his priority would be to have President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) “answer to the law.”
He would grant residency permits to 10,000 Chinese every year and ask Washington for a 20 percent discount on its arms sale packages, Yang told a news conference at party headquarters in Taipei.
Some people might say that the New Party just wants to make waves, but as a political party, it is obligated to nominate a presidential candidate in a society where only calls for Taiwanese independence are allowed, while calls for unification are prohibited, New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) said.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The New Party must come out with its pro-unification stance, he added.
Yang linked supporting independence to being a “woman.”
Taiwanese politicians who espouse unification or independence often do not dare transform their words into action, he said.
“I am pro-unification. I am a man. Where are the women supporting independence?” he said.
Commenting on other potential presidential candidates, he said that Tsai is a woman, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) “is not a woman,” former Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) “might be a man” and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) “is likely not a woman.”
Cross-strait tensions are at the heart of the nation’s problems, as they have not only hampered the nation’s international presence for too long, but also caused rifts in society, he said.
If elected, he would make Tsai, who is “a tumor for Taiwan,” answer to the law, he said.
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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