The Republic Party yesterday announced that United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) honorary deputy chairman John Hsuan (宣明智) has joined the party, sparking speculation whether he would represent the party in the Jan. 16 elections.
Hsuan was a cofounder of the company — the nation’s first semiconductor manufacturing firm — and had served as its chief executive officer.
“I have joined the Republic Party,” Hsuan said in a press release by the party, adding he hoped could “add to the party’s voice.”
Since the party’s founding in March, it has already attracted 100,000 members, Hsuan said, bolstering his confidence that it is a party worthy of trust and able to get things done.
Hsuan did not say whether he would join the elections or take any other political role within the party.
The party said he had filled the application for membership and paid his dues at a private party earlier this month, which was also attended by Republic Party Chairmand and Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩).
Hsu said that Hsuan is a graduate of National Chiao Tung University like her, and they got to know each other after she joined politics.
Hsuan had campaigned for Hsu during her legislative run and gave her advice during the party’s founding.
Hsu founded the Republic Party after withdrawing from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) along with other prominent members, including her brother, Taipei City Councilor Hsu Shih-shun (徐世勳), and former Miaoli County legislator Kang Shih-ju (康世儒).
Additional reporting by Liao Hsueh-ju
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week