As parties finalized more nominees for the year-end mayoral and county commissioner elections, both the People First Party (PFP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday that they were looking into cooperating to achieve optimal results.
"The KMT has already set the rules for its nomination procedures. After the party's nominees have been decided and have begun their campaigns, we will work with the PFP and the New Party. We hope to establish a joint pan-blue system to determine [the pan-blue camp's] candidates for the mayoral and commissioner elections," KMT Secretary-General Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正) said at the party's headquarters yesterday.
At its weekly policy meeting yesterday, the KMT formally agreed on 10 candidates to nominate to the year-end elections.
The 10 candidates are Legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) for Taipei County commissioner, Ilan City Mayor Lu Kou-hua (呂國華) for commissioner in Ilan County, Legislator Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源) for Changhua County commissioner, Legislator Hsu Shu-po (許舒博) for Yunlin County commissioner, former legislator Chen Jung-shen (陳榮盛) for Tainan City mayor, incumbent Cheng Jung-chin (鄭永金) for Hsinchu County commissioner, Legislator Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) for Chiayi mayor, Legislator Kuo Tien-tsai (郭添財) for Tainan County commissioner, incumbent Hsieh Shen-shan (謝深山) for Hualien County commissioner and Makung Mayor Wang Kan-fa (王乾發) for Penghu County commissioner.
A step ahead of the KMT, the PFP announced on Tuesday seven of the candidates it is nominating for the year-end polls.
The seven nominees include the incumbent Commissioner Chen Hsueh-sheng (
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central