Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) was scheduled to visit Beijing yesterday to thank Taiwanese businesspeople based there for their support in the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections.
Chiang, who in his capacity as the Straits Exchange Foundation chairman is Taiwan’s top negotiator with China, was expected to arrive in Beijing last night and was scheduled to attend a musical event today to thank Taiwanese business representatives there on behalf of the KMT.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) defeated Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) by a 6 percent margin. He was apparently helped by the large number of China-based businesspeople who returned home to vote.
Many of them are believed to have voted for Ma because of his policies supporting closer relations between Taiwan and China.
Chiang has already visited Taiwanese businesspeople in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, and Nanjing, on similar trips to thank them for their support.
Chiang is the second senior party official to visit Beijing since the election, after former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) met with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) late last month.
During his five-day stay in the Chinese capital, Chiang is expected to meet with Chinese officials responsible for Taiwan-related affairs, including Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Wang Yi (王毅).
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
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