A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator-elect yesterday decided to postpone his registration with the Legislative Yuan for a month, but the move was met with stinging criticism from the Democratic Progressive Party.
Tucheng Mayor Lu Chia-chen (
However, if he were to delay resigning as mayor and registered with the legislature on March 1, there would be no statutory requirement to hold a by-election, he said. Instead, Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (
Lu said a by-election would cost at least NT$10 million (US$303,000), including the printing of voter rosters, election bulletins and other expenses.
He said he "will not disappoint his supporters" as no major bills or budgetary proposal would be up for review next month and there would be a weeklong Lunar New Year break.
This year's Lunar New Year falls on Feb. 7.
Amid media reports that the KMT had advised Lu to postpone his registration with the legislature for a month, DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) campaign office lashed out at the KMT's "one-party dominance mentality" and its "arrogance."
Hsieh's office spokesman Tuan Yi-kang (
DPP caucus whip Wang Tuoh (王拓) said KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had voiced his opposition to the appointment of township-level mayors and should stick to his stance.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
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