A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) official yesterday said that former deputy secretary-general Chung Chia-pin's (
"Chung no longer holds any official position in the party and therefore there is no question of whether he needs to inform party headquarters about his personal trips," said Cheng Wen-tsan (
The spokesman was responding to questions about Chung's attendance at an academic event held at Beijing Union University yesterday. The party had no prior knowledge of Chung's China visit and was only aware of it after seeing it reported on a local TV news network, Cheng said.
According to a Central News Agency (CNA) news report yesterday, Chung was spotted attending Beijing Union University's Unveiling Ceremony for its Taiwan Research Institute.
Chung's appearance at the event created a stir since he was known as a DPP member, in addition to his previous position in the party, the report said.
Other event participants from Taiwan included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Feng-chih (朱鳳芝) and former DPP Chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良) who since 1999 has defied the DPP and sided with the opposition pan-blue camp.
According to local news coverage, Chung was mobbed by reporters at the event, but didn't make any comment. The CNA report said that Chung attended the event in his capacity as deputy secretary-general of the National Cultural Association, a position he assumed in February after stepping down from his DPP post.
Asked for comment yesterday on Chung's visit, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said "the matter has nothing to do with [the MAC]."
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said