Opposition politicians failed to agree on a united approach to the January elections during a chaotic meeting that was broadcast live yesterday, ahead of the 5pm deadline for registration today.
In a last-ditch effort to revive faltering negotiations, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) invited the other opposition candidates, independent Terry Gou (郭台銘) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), to talks at the Grand Hyatt Taipei at 4:30pm.
Gou was the first to arrive in the venue, followed by Hou at 4:46pm, who was accompanied by KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), also of the KMT.
Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Reuters
Gou’s campaign said it had originally planned to hold closed talks between the three candidates on the 25th floor of the hotel, but the KMT insisted on live-streaming the discussion with Chu and Ma also present.
Ko and Gou entered late to the room, leaving the KMT members alone at a desk next to a digital clock counting down to the registration deadline at 5pm today.
The combative tone was set early, with spokesmen for Gou and the KMT trading barbs before the final two participants arrived.
Photo: CNA
Gou, who was appointed leader of the talks, said that if the discussions were still only between the KMT and the TPP, he would leave.
At one point, Hou brought out his phone to read text messages from Ko saying that Gou needed a reason to withdraw from the race.
Ko took issue with Hou reading their private messages, saying it is “something that only celebrities and their wingmen would do.”
Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Reuters
Hou responded that he read it with Ko’s permission, and he could have refused.
There was some discussion of the disagreement in polling analysis that stymied initial coalition talks last week, with Chu suggesting that the two sides discuss collaboration without dwelling on the dispute, as the polls consistently showed that a united opposition in any form would be victorious in January.
However, the participants did not reach an agreement during the 90-minute event and they at one point left for a break after Gou excused himself. He did not come back until the KMT delegation’s departure.
Photo: Reuters
The meeting ended at the 6:30pm deadline with the KMT members leaving after Gou’s spokesman suggested that the party tried to manipulate polls from earlier in the year.
Gou and Ko stayed a few more minutes to speak with reporters, with Gou again expressing discontent at being relegated to a witness rather than participant, but adding that “the sun will rise again tomorrow.”
The KMT held its own news conference after the meeting, saying it would “wait until the last moment” and calling for a return to the original six agreements reached with the TPP on Wednesday last week.
However, according to a schedule posted by the TPP later in the evening, Ko is to go to the Central Election Commission at 11am today to register his candidacy, leaving doubt that an agreement would be reached before then.
The schedule did not mention who would be accompanying Ko to the office.
Additional reporting by Huang Ching-yi
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
FINANCES: The KMT plan to halt pension cuts could bankrupt the pension fund years earlier, undermining intergenerational fairness, a Ministry of Civil Service report said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ proposal to amend the law to halt pension cuts for civil servants, teachers and military personnel could accelerate the depletion of the Public Service Pension Fund by four to five years, a Ministry of Civil Service report said. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Aug. 14 said that the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) should be amended, adding that changes could begin as soon as after Saturday’s recall and referendum. In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said that the fund already faces a severe imbalance between revenue