Widely expected to be nominated as the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) presidential candidate today, former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday vowed to seek cooperation with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) despite the latter's reluctance to discuss the issue.
"I will visit Speaker Wang after the nomination. I hope the final result will be wonderful, and the KMT will present a presidential pair with the biggest winning chance," Ma said before attending an event held by the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions at Taipei Railway Station.
As Ma was the only presidential hopeful to complete the registration procedure with the KMT, making a presidential primary unnecessary, the party is scheduled to nominate Ma during the Central Standing Committee meeting today.
While vowing to keep his promise and invite Wang to be the vice presidential candidate if he was nominated, Ma declined to confirm whether or not a Ma-Wang ticket would represent the KMT in the presidential election next year.
"We should all put more emphasis on people's livelihood, rather than focusing on political issues such as a Ma-Wang or a Wang-Ma ticket," he said.
Ma will need to decide on his vice presidential partner by next month -- when the KMT holds its congress.
Ma added that he tried to phone Wang after hearing of his meeting with former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
After the nomination, Ma said he would visit both Wang and Lien and seek their assistance and support.
KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said the party had not ruled out having a Ma-Wang ticket in next year's presidential race, but urged party members to refrain from leaking any information that could cause misunderstandings.
Meanwhile, Wang said he was not in a hurry to meet with Ma to discuss a presidential ticket.
"The meeting can wait until the KMT's national convention in June because Ma will not formally become the party's presidential candidate until June," he said prior to his meeting with Lien.
Wang said there was no need for Ma to see him today as the formal nomination to choose the party's candidate for presidency would be conducted at the national convention next month instead of the Central Standing Committee's meeting today.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
RSS