People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday expressed confidence in his ability to win votes in Miaoli County after he was greeted by several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative candidates during his visit to a former commissioner of the traditional KMT stronghold.
Soong paid a visit to former county commissioner Fu Hsueh-peng (傅學鵬), a local heavyweight with a strong grassroots political network, at Fu’s home in Gongguan Township (公館) yesterday morning, which was packed with hundreds of Soong’s supporters and KMT members.
Miaoli County Council deputy speaker Chen Ming-chao (陳明朝) of the KMT, KMT legislative candidate Hsu Chih-jung (徐志榮) and Chiu Li-li (邱俐俐), executive officer to KMT Legislator Chen Chao-ming (陳超明), were among the crowd.
Fu praised Soong for his leadership and execution capability during his term as Taiwan’s provincial governor, urging voters to rise above political affiliations in next year’s presidential race and support someone with the ability to actually govern.
“Apparently, I flipped Miaoli. Many [KMT] local heavyweights have chosen to come out to support me,” Soong said, before singing Hakka folk songs.
Soong said he plans to put individuals of Hakka origin in significant positions in the coalition government he promised to establish if elected for the top office and vowed to reinvigorate the Hakka spirit and culture.
Soong later visited former vice president Li Yuan-zu (李元簇) of the KMT, who also openly threw his support behind the PFP candidate.
KMT Miaoli County executive committee director Liu Ming-jen (劉明仁) said that all of the party’s county councilors and borough wardens present were only there due to their personal ties with Fu.
Liu added that all of them informed the party in advance of their plans to attend the event.
The attendance of KMT members and pan-blue vote brokers at Soong’s campaign events over the past few weeks has reportedly unnerved the ruling party, which has interpreted Soong’s moves as an attempt to lure pan-blue political figures into his party’s fold.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) has recently repeatedly called for unity and cooperation, as several members have “jumped ship” to the PFP.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS