Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is not fit to run as a presidential candidate because of his opposition to changing the names of state-run industries, a pro-Taiwan independence group said yesterday.
The Northern Taiwan Society held a press conference yesterday afternoon to endorse the administration's efforts to change the names of Chunghwa Post Co and Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC), which were renamed Taiwan Post Co and CPC, Taiwan.
Michelle Wang (王美琇), deputy secretary-general of the Northern Taiwan Society, yesterday criticized Ma for being a "conservative reactionary who reaps where he has not sown."
"Not only he is not qualified to be the president, but he is not even fit to be a presidential candidate," she said.
Hours after she made the remarks at a press conference, prosecutors announced Ma had been indicted on corruption charges. Ma shortly afterwards announced he was resigning as KMT chairman and that he would run in the 2008 presidential election.
Noting that the Democratic Progressive Party administration had come under fire for not changing names of state-run businesses earlier, Wang yesterday said "a belated justice is still justice."
"Anytime is a good time to do the right thing," she added,"I just wish we could have gone all the way."
Yosoh Kure (吳煜宗), convenor of the association's law and politics department, argued that Chunghwa Post Co union members were not in a position to stage a protest against the name change, which was approved by company board members. Nor is the name change an issue that would affect their year-end bonuses or profits, he said.
"The protest is a labor action aided by political parties and is meant to lead public opinion astray," he said. "Apparently the union collaborated with the pan-blue camp to stage the protest, which is very inappropriate."
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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