The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said that Hon Hai Precision Industries Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) reneged on a promise to support it, a day after the tycoon quit the party.
Gou’s departure came after months of speculation that he might run as an independent in next year’s presidential election after losing the KMT’s presidential primary to Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) in July.
The KMT posted on Facebook a video montage of Gou pledging that he would support the winner of the primary.
Photo courtesy of Gou’s campaign
Gou is shown as having made statements to that effect on April 17, when he received honorary membership of the party, and on May 13, after he emerged from a conference with KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
Former Hon Hai “chairman Gou, you said you would do everything in your power to support the candidate elected by the party’s nomination process. Now what?” the post asked.
“The administrator of this account believed that as an honorary party member, you would understand the hard work the chairman [Wu] and the party center put into the primary, but you quit,” it said.
The KMT Culture and Communications Committee said in a statement that Gou has not lived up to the solemn promises he made when he accepted KMT membership in front of portraits of the party’s past leaders, including Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國).
Gou yesterday posted a video greeting for the Mid-Autumn Festival on Facebook, saying: “Leaving the party lifted a great weight off my shoulders.”
The Central Election Commission yesterday began registration of presidential candidates, with Ou Chung-ching (歐崇敬), a Formosa Alliance member running without the party’s blessing; Non-Partisan Solidarity Union member Chen Yuan-chi (陳源奇); and Master Wu-shan (釋悟善), a Buddhist monk, picking up forms.
Wu-shan said that he gave more than NT$100 million (US$3.22 million) to charitable causes and his platform is to recreate Taiwan’s “economic miracle” by “buying emptiness, moving emptiness and turning all to emptiness.”
Chen, a former representative of the now-defunct National Assembly, ran in the Taipei City Council’s Second District by-election in January and received 89 votes. He is perhaps best known for the 1995 legislative election in Matsu, where he received five votes.
Ou is on the Formosa Alliance’s decisionmaking committee and last week announced his presidential ambitions on YouTube.
Tuesday next week is the final day that the commission accepts applications from independent candidates.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park this weekend, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a theme food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances. Pokemon Go Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as photo attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs. Pokemon trainers could also experience the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area. Three PokeStops are to be set up in the park. Trainers are invited to take