Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The denials came after a Chinese-language local paper reported yesterday on its front page that Ma, who is also a KMT vice chairman, has already clearly expressed his intention to run for the KMT party leadership when the seat comes up for grabs in March.
Quoting a "powerful member of the KMT," the story said that Ma already has his eye on a 2008 run for president and is planning to announce a final decision about running for party chairman after the legislative elections next month.
The story -- and reporters questions -- yesterday sparked denials from Ma.
"I haven't considered this issue yet; I've been too busy with the Taipei City government and in the year-end legislative elections," Ma said.
"This is a misunderstanding; the reporter [who wrote the article] didn't even interview me for this story," he said.
The news provoked mixed reactions in the pan-blue camp yesterday.
"The KMT party chair is elected by all party members. Any party member can run for chairmanship," KMT caucus whip Huang Teh-fu (
"There are many people I can think of who might run for party chairmanship. Hwang Yih-jiau (
A merger between the KMT and the PFP next February is purportedly in the works.
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
"It's time for the legislative elections," was all Lien would say to reporters yesterday when questioned at the KMT's headquarters in Taipei.
Legislative Speaker and another potential KMT party chair contender Wang Jin-pyng (
Wang was identified in the newspaper article as Lien's favorite to succeed him in the post.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS