Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman John Kuan (
DPP legislators Wang Sing-nan (
Guan lashed out at Wang and Lee for making false statements and later filed a defamation lawsuit against the two.
PHOTO: BOBBY YIP, REUTERS
"I will accept my punishment and commit seppuku at the party's headquarters if they can present evidence that I have bribed others," Guan told a press conference at KMT headquarters. "The two legislators should also end their lives if they cannot prove their allegations."
Seppuku refers to the Japanese ritual of committing suicide by disembowelment.
Meanwhile, Ma yesterday warned his supporters not to be too optimistic about his election bid, and urged them to help boost the turnout ratio to 75 percent by showing up and voting at Saturday's election.
"We need to have a sense of crisis as the election approaches. The situation is tense, and I will lose the election if you fail to vote," Ma said while soliciting support at the Cheng Kung public housing complex in Taipei.
Media reports of four KMT legislators barging into the Taipei campaign headquarters of DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) on Wednesday have dealt a blow to the Ma campaign. The incident turned into a violent clash between the legislators and Hsieh's supporters, and Ma is concerned it may have a negative impact on his election bid.
Returning to Taipei from his nationwide campaign tour, Ma, a former Taipei mayor, thanked local residents for their long-term support, while lashing out at the DPP administration for its poor performance over the past eight years.
"Mr. Hsieh and his running mate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) are both responsible for the administration's poor performance. Expecting them to change Taiwan for the better would be a mistake," he said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to