Four pro-independence heavyweights will give statements today expressing their views on the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) four presidential hopefuls -- who have recently discussed their platforms at presidential primary debates -- and on next year's presidential election.
Wu Li-pei (吳澧培), a former senior adviser to the president and a prominent pro-independence advocate, told the Taipei Times yesterday that they would not endorse any specific candidate or party, but would make a joint statement on the DPP's candidates and the election.
"Our opinions will be detached from parties and individuals because none of us are members of the DPP," he said.
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
In addition to Wu, former presidential adviser Peng Ming-min (
Wu said that former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (
Koo ran a half-page ad in Chinese-language newspapers on Thursday expressing his views about the DPP's four presidential hopefuls, as well as the country's political situation and its relations with China and the US.
Koo asked former premier Frank Hsieh (
Koo complimented Premier Su Tseng-chang (
Praising DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun for being someone who "represents Taiwan's values and preferences," Koo said Yu was a real politician who "courageously and honestly painted a future direction for the country and made correct political decisions."
Koo stopped short of endorsing Yu, however.
Koo made no mention of Vice President Annette Lu (
While Koo said in the ad that his "observations and judgment" tell him that the DPP's presidential candidate will be the country's next president, Wu said that he was not as certain.
"Didn't we hear many people say at the height of the corruption scandal concerning President Chen Shui-bian's (
"So now the DPP will definitely win the election?" he asked.
Wu said the DPP stood little chance of winning the election if its presidential aspirants continued to attack each other during their campaigns, adding that the country would be doomed if the DPP lost the election.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching