In a step that will pave the way for KMT-PFP cooperation in the Taipei County commissioner's election in December, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) yesterday invited former minister of justice Liao Cheng-hao (廖正豪) to run in the race.
Liao said that he has yet to make a final decision on whether to run, but that he will make a decision "very soon."
Leaders of the KMT and the PFP have planned to jointly nominate Liao, currently an independent who maintains close relationships with both parties.
Lien extended the invitation to Liao when Liao paid him a visit yesterday.
Liao said after the meeting that he still needs to confer with PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) about the matter before making a decision.
Liao said he would maintain his independent status even if he decides to run in the election, and that this idea was supported by Lien.
Liao said he is not considering joining any political party or rejoining the KMT.
Liao quit the KMT in 1999 to throw his support behind Soong, who insisted on running in last year's presidential race without the KMT's nomination and was later expelled from the party for doing so.
Liao, however, never joined the PFP -- founded by Soong in March last year soon after the presidential election.
In recent months, the KMT has reportedly tried to persuade Liao to rejoin the KMT and represent the party in the Taipei County election.
Chao Shou-po (趙守博), chairman of the KMT's Organization and Development Committee, said the party has been searching for the right candidate and has approached people with ideals similar to that of the KMT who are interested in running in the election and have the potential to win.
If the parties eventually decide to jointly nominate Liao, they need to communicate and coordinate with other members who have expressed an intent to vie for their parties' nomination in the Taipei County election, Chao said.
KMT legislator Lin Jih-jia (林志嘉) and Chin Chin-sheng (秦金生), deputy secretary-general of the PFP, are both aspirants in the Taipei County race.
Lin yesterday urged Liao to make a quick decision if he is truly interested in running.
To ensure fair competition, Lin insisted that a public poll should be held to assess the popularity of the potential candidates as the basis of receiving the nomination.
Lin said he will definitely quit the commissioner's race if he loses in the public poll.
Chin, meanwhile, said the PFP should respect the opinions of its supporters when deciding on a nominee.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
FAST RELEASE: The council lauded the developer for completing model testing in only four days and releasing a commercial version for use by academia and industry The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) yesterday released the latest artificial intelligence (AI) language model in traditional Chinese embedded with Taiwanese cultural values. The council launched the Trustworthy AI Dialogue Engine (TAIDE) program in April last year to develop and train traditional Chinese-language models based on LLaMA, the open-source AI language model released by Meta. The program aims to tackle the information bias that is often present in international large-scale language models and take Taiwanese culture and values into consideration, it said. Llama 3-TAIDE-LX-8B-Chat-Alpha1, released yesterday, is the latest large language model in traditional Chinese. It was trained based on Meta’s Llama-3-8B
STUMPED: KMT and TPP lawmakers approved a resolution to suspend the rate hike, which the government said was unavoidable in view of rising global energy costs The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it has a mandate to raise electricity prices as planned after the legislature passed a non-binding resolution along partisan lines to freeze rates. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers proposed the resolution to suspend the price hike, which passed by a 59-50 vote. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) voted with the KMT. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT said the resolution is a mandate for the “immediate suspension of electricity price hikes” and for the Executive Yuan to review its energy policy and propose supplementary measures. A government-organized electricity price evaluation board in March
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has