Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) yesterday visited the Xianse Temple (先嗇宮) in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重), vowing to unify the party and return it to power in 2024.
Ma worshiped and gave red envelopes to temple visitors at the invitation of KMT Secretary-General Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍), who is also the temple’s chairman.
Jiang and Jaw joined Ma at the temple, and their interactions were closely watched by the news media, as Jaw last week announced his bid to enter the KMT’s presidential primary, about a week after he announced his return to the party after leaving it in 1993.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“I hope Jaw’s return will encourage other members who have lost contact with the party to return to the fold as well. [KMT Legislator] Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) also expressed his willingness to shoulder his responsibility. Both are positive developments for the party,” Ma said, referring to remarks by Chiang Wan-an in a political talk show on Friday that he would not shun his responsibility when asked if he would run in the Taipei mayoral election next year.
Asked if he would encourage Jaw and Johnny Chiang to pair and contend in the 2024 presidential election, Ma said the party has an established mechanism to elect presidential candidates, whom the party would support.
Johnny Chiang said whoever is chosen to represent the party in 2024 should be supported by all party members.
Jaw said he joined Ma in his visit to the temple for the sake of party unity.
“The KMT lost the presidential election in 2020 because of its failure to unite party members. The party has to be united for the 2024 presidential election. Those interested in participating in the 2024 presidential election should fairly compete with one another for the spot,” he said.
Ma and Jaw said that President Tsai Iing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration should not immediately dismiss the possibility of using Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines.
“We do not know how the pandemic situation will change. We should not give up on any potential source of vaccines, which could add one more layer of protection for the public,” Ma said.
Jaw said Taiwan should show a goodwill gesture after Tsai said Taiwan and China should forge a dialogue.
He also urged the Tsai administration to stop calling COVID-19 the “Wuhan pneumonia,” saying such a discriminatory and derogatory term would not help improve cross-strait relations.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) later yesterday said there is insufficient information, such as studies published in scientific journals, about Chinese vaccines to consider them candidates.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS