The People First Party (PFP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will work together to promote a single candidate for Nantou County commissioner this year, the PFP's hopeful for the post said yesterday.
The PFP's Nantou County commissioner nominee, PFP Legislative Caucus Whip Chen Chih-pin (
Survey
With a number of party old guard serving as witnesses, Chen said that he had met with Lee on Saturday and agreed to hire a survey company to run polls in Nantou County next month, and have the winner become the pan-blue camp's candidate for the area.
The comments from Chen yesterday came as a surprise, given recent remarks from PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) identifying Nantou County as one place where the party will not back down in the face of potentially stronger KMT candidates.
In comments last week, Soong said that while he acknowledges that the PFP and KMT should cooperate in the year-end elections given their overlapping support bases, the PFP will not give way in regions it feels confident of its candidates' success, such as Nantou County and Keelung City.
Done deal
"Both sides already have an agreement, that whoever loses [in the polls] will back out of the race and support the other pan-blue candidate," Chen said, adding that he is confident of his personal success, given that he is better known.
When reporting the agreement to PFP Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng (
In reaction however, Chen said he did not think that the KMT would manipulate the polls.
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday thanked Palau for its continued support of Taiwan's international participation, as Taipei was once again excluded from the World Health Assembly (WHA) currently taking place in Switzerland. "Palau has never stopped voicing support for Taiwan" in the UN General Assembly, the WHO and other UN-affiliated agencies, Lai said during a bilateral meeting with visiting Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. "We have been profoundly touched by these endorsements," Lai said, praising the Pacific island nation's firm support as "courageous." Lai's remarks came as Taiwan was excluded for the ninth consecutive year from the WHA, which is being held in
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
At least three people died and more than a dozen were injured yesterday afternoon when a vehicle struck a group of pedestrians in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽). The incident happened at about 4pm when a car rammed into pedestrians at an intersection near Bei Da Elementary School. Witnesses said the sedan, being driven at a high speed, ran a red light, knocking scooters out of the way and hitting students crossing the road before careening into a median near the intersection of Guocheng and Guoguang streets. The incident resulted in three deaths and 13 injuries, including the driver, a 78-year-old man