Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday completed his registration at the Central Election Commission office in Taipei to run in next year’s presidential election.
The commission is accepting registrations from party-nominated candidates for the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections from yesterday to Friday.
Han, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate, was accompanied by his running mate, former premier Simon Chang (張善政), and his Taipei campaign office deputy chief executive, Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華).
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Speaking to reporters at the commission, Han said he would very much like a “clean, civilized and healthy” presidential election that could make future generations proud.
“My running mate, Simon Chang, and I will work hard to create clean elections, a sunny vibe, a beautiful Taiwan and a bright future,” he said.
He and Chang will clearly explain their concerns and plans for the nation’s future so that people can decide whom to vote for, he added.
Compared with most democratic elections, next year’s presidential and legislative elections have a special significance, he said.
“While elections are usually about changing government, next year’s elections will determine the life or death of the Republic of China,” he said, urging Taiwanese around the world to return home to vote to protect the nation.
A survey conducted by the Chinese-language United Daily News published yesterday showed President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leading in a three-way race, with a support rating of 45 percent, followed by Han with 29 percent and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) with 8 percent.
Asked how he would close the 16-point gap with Tsai, Han said: “Can’t you see that I’m still smiling?”
The DPP is “silly” to assume that good poll numbers would ensure victory, he said.
“I think in a completely different way. I believe you can only win [the election] if you win people’s hearts,” he said.
If people look closely, they would notice that, while people attending his rally were there for him, those at Tsai’s were just there for “a lunchbox,” he said.
In other developments, Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau Secretary-General Kao Mei-lan (高美蘭) yesterday applied for a month’s leave, which means she would again miss the Kaohsiung City Council’s interpellation.
Kao has been on leave since Monday last week and had missed a question-and-answer session at the city council last week.
The Chinese-language Next Magazine earlier this month reported that Han and Kao in 2011 each purchased a pre-sale luxury apartment in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港) valued at more than NT$70 million (US$2.3 million).
A week after the report, DPP Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said that Han and five other buyers allegedly pressured the construction company into offering them a combined loan of NT$1.3 billion to be returned over 20 years, conditions that were against the company’s policy.
Kao said in a written statement that by taking time off, she hoped to avoid any concerns about the government’s neutrality and to give her colleagues more space to work undisturbed.
All her housing investments were done legally and before she became a public servant, she said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
RSS