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.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle