Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday said that Southeast Asian nations are “no longer taking Taiwan seriously” due to its diplomatic challenges and poor economy, and urged voters to support the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to prevent the nation’s “downfall.”
Commenting on a Thai visa rule change that requires Taiwanese applicants to provide a financial statement, the KMT presidential candidate said the move suggests that Taiwan is losing status in the eyes of other countries.
The Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei in a statement on Monday last week said that the new rule also applies to British, Chinese and French passport holders, and would be extended to more nations.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
“They look down on us,” Han said at a rally in Taipei. “Southeast Asian countries are no longer taking Taiwan seriously because of its poor economic performance, diplomatic difficulties and domestic problems.”
Although the Thai government has since postponed the implementation of the rule, it should be taken as a sign that Taiwan is “quickly going downhill,” Han said.
The Jan. 11 elections present a life-or-death choice for the Republic of China, he said, adding that the nation would face four years of “misery” if President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party is re-elected.
At a separate rally in Taipei, Han reiterated that neighboring nations no longer consider Taiwan as deserving of their attention.
With the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) expected to expire next year and Taiwan’s entry into the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) seeming unlikely, the nation’s future is shrouded in uncertainty, he said.
His wife, Lee Chia-fen (李佳芬), has met with their overseas supporters in Malaysia and Indonesia who told her “in tears” that they were saddened to see Taiwan decline, Han said.
“The world is forgetting Taiwan and Taiwan is forgetting the world,” he said.
Taiwanese TV channels do not broadcast world news, only political talk shows, as they are cheaper to produce and commentators “simply say what they want based on their political leaning,” Han said.
If elected, he would promote English-language education at elementary schools and launch a program to send university students abroad for a year using government funds.
While the program is estimated to cost NT$40 billion to NT$50 billion (US$1.3 billion to US$1.6 billion), Han said he expects the actual cost to be lower, because “entrepreneurs could be deeply moved by the policy and donate” to it.
He would also provide scholarships for 1 percent, or about 3,500, of government employees to study abroad.
The policy would include military personnel, public-school teachers, police, firefighters and public servants aged 45 or younger, Han said, adding that if the program is successful, the quota would be doubled the following year.
“This plan would guarantee that Taiwan becomes completely different in 10 years,” he said, adding that he aims to improve the nation’s economy and “revive its lost glory.”
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most