Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu’s (陳菊) camp yesterday apologized and vowed to compensate residents after firecrackers set off by her motorcade to Tzukuan Township (梓官), Kaohsiung County, torched the top floors of three buildings on Tuesday night.
A fire broke out on the third floor of an electronics store after Chen’s motorcade left. The blaze spread to the top floors of two adjacent buildings. A witness was quoted by TVBS as saying that firecrackers set off by the motorcade flew into the store’s building seconds before the blaze broke out.
“We will verify the cause of the fire. No matter what the cause is, the campaign headquarters will do its best to take care of the matter,” said Chen Chi-yu (陳啟昱), a Chen campaign spokesman.
The three Greater Kaohsiung mayoral candidates are going all-out in the final days of the campaign, leading Chen to run into Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) and her staffers when seeking support from hikers on Shoushan (壽山) early yesterday morning.
Chen intended to shake hands with Huang, but Huang moved forward without greeting Chen. Huang later denied that she had refused to shake Chen’s hand, saying she had not seen the mayor.
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), who is running as an independent, returned to the county government seeking support. He dismissed criticism that he might be violating administrative impartiality by seeking support from county employees.
Yang said he had taken a leave of absence until the election, and the county government was a public place. Chen was welcome if she wanted to visit county staffers for support, he said.
Taiwan must first strengthen its own national defense to deter a potential invasion by China as cross-strait tensions continue to rise, multiple European lawmakers said on Friday. In a media interview in Taipei marking the conclusion of an eight-member European parliamentary delegation’s six-day visit to Taiwan, the lawmakers urged Taipei to remain vigilant and increase defense spending. “All those who claim they want to protect you actually want to conquer you,” Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Soboliev said when asked what lessons Taiwan could draw from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Soboliev described the Kremlin as a “new fascist Nazi regime” that justified
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