China-based businessmen who support Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) launched a campaign group yesterday, vowing to mobilize at least 300,000 China-based Taiwanese to return to Taiwan and vote for Ma in the March election.
"The support of Taiwanese businessmen for Ma will be crucial in the election. The more China-based Taiwanese businessmen cast their votes for Ma, the more likely Ma is to win the presidential election," the group's director, KMT Legislator Huang Lian-hua (
When asked to explain how 300,000 people would return from China to cast their votes given the limited seats on flights and other transport, KMT Mainland Affairs Division Director Chang Jung-kung (
When asked the same question, Huang said that the newly formed group might create a travel schedule for voters and their families to return to Taiwan at different times, all in time for the election.
A businessman at the event who requested anonymity said that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had increased efforts to build contacts with groups of China-based businessmen.
He expressed skepticism about how many businessmen would come home to vote.
Addressing the event yesterday, Ma pledged to carry out his campaign policy of implementing cross-strait charter flights during weekends and expanding the scope of the small three links immediately after his inauguration on May 20 if elected.
He also promised to remove restrictions on financial investment in China and to sign economic cooperation and investment protection agreements with China to ensure the interests of Taiwanese operating businesses there.
"The Democratic Progressive Party has offered five noes: no convenience, no protection, no support, no opportunities and no dignity to China-based Taiwanese businessmen," Ma said. "My running mate Vincent Siew (
More than 400 China-based Taiwanese businessmen and KMT heavyweights, including Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Meanwhile, DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday unveiled his campaign logo, showing seven people standing hand-in-hand on top of the word "Taiwan."
Campaign director Yeh Chu-lan (
"Simple is powerful. The logo, with a blue-green Taiwan and people in the colors of the rainbow, highlights Hsieh's goal of leading the country toward social reconciliation and reform," Yeh told reporters at a press conference yesterday.
Also see story:
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
RSS