After admitting yesterday he was once an advisor to DPP candidate Chen Shui-bian (3?糮?, Chang Chao-hsiung (張昭雄) -- the running mate of KMT maverick presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) -- said he was neither a pawn of Soong nor a betrayer of the DPP.
"I support Soong because we have the same view of Taiwan's future," said Chang, "We both agree with President Lee Teng-hui's (
"I hope that we [he and Soong] have the opportunity to meet Lee and if we win the presidential election next March, it could prove that people have accepted Soong's platform, which is to build a new government which is non-partisan and cross ethnic," Chang said.
The surgeon and administrator began his first day of politics yesterday, doing interviews with the media and expressing confidence that his experience and skills were relevant and of benefit.
Chang stressed that he still appreciated Chen as an outstanding Taiwanese and also praised President Lee.
Chang's father-in-law, Lee Chi-ying (
"I think he was afraid of being opposed by us," Lee said. His wife said they had both campaigned for Chen Shui-bian in the last decade.
"We may help our son-in-law owing to family ties, yet I will persist in voting secretly with my original decision," said Lee.
Meanwhile, Soong said he hoped that Chang could take responsibility for social welfare policy and lead a team that would write Soong's key China policy.
"Chang is a professional and has dedicated himself to the science and technology fields, he is also good at administration. Moreover, he devoted his life to being a doctor, which should inform people of our principles, which are of crossing party lines and are inclusive of all ethnic groups in Taiwan," Soong said.
"These abilities of Chang's are necessary for him to be an excellent politician."
Soong campaign staff were satisfied with the result of a public poll by a TV company, after Chang was announced as Soong's running mate, and revealed Soong led in the poll and his support rate was increasing.
But DPP leaders said Chang was not representative of all medical people and was unlikely to attract many more voter groups to Soong.
Chen Chi-mai (
"It is a fact that Soong is from the mainland but Chang is Taiwanese. Chang is from a prominent family from southern Taiwan, while Soong lives in northern Taiwan," Chen said.
But Chen added: "After campaigning for a while Chang will face many problems in cooperating with Soong."
A date for Chen Shui-bian to publicize his running mate has not been fixed, but his campaign staff members confirmed that Taoyuan County commissioner Annette Lu (
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
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