The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) are to hold an anti-recall rally in Taipei on Saturday next week, ahead of recall votes set for July 26, opposition party figures said yesterday.
Taipei City Council Speaker Tai Shi-chin (戴錫欽) of the KMT while visiting TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday extended an invitation for the TPP to join the KMT’s rally, which is to take place in front of Taipei City Hall.
A total of 24 KMT lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安), formerly of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), are scheduled to face recall votes on July 26.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Photojournalist Society
Tai, the acting director of the KMT Taipei chapter in place of Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹) — who has been indicted on charges of electoral fraud connected with the opposition’s own recall campaign — thanked Huang for accepting the invitation, saying the TPP’s support was meaningful at a time of adversity.
Huang and the rest of the TPP’s presence would be needed to counter the recall campaigns backed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which had been motivated by malice, Tai said.
President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Tuesday — which urged voters to hammer out “impurities” to forge a “steel-willed determination” to defend Taiwan — was an assault on freedom of speech and thought, Tai added.
The dangwai (黨外, “outside the party”) movement was about giving Taiwanese freedom that the DPP has abandoned as the ruling party in its bid to capture a majority in the legislature, Tai said.
The term dangwai refers to organized dissent formed outside the then-KMT regime before 1986, when the KMT did not allow opposition political parties.
The KMT and DPP have launched plenty of recall campaigns, but they had targeted elected officials for cause, in stark contrast to the indiscriminate campaign being prosecuted currently, he added.
Huang pledged his party’s support for the rally, adding that Taiwan has had enough of a president who, after a year in office, had nothing to show for it except sowing division.
GENSLER SURVEY: ‘Economic infrastructure is not enough. A city needs to inspire pride, offer moments of joy and foster a sense of belonging,’ the company said Taipei was named the city with the “highest staying power” in the world by US-based design and architecture firm Gensler. The Taiwanese capital earned the top spot among 65 cities across six continents with 64 percent of Taipei respondents in a survey of 33,000 people saying they wanted to stay in the city. Rounding out the top five were Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City (61 percent), Singapore (59 percent), Sydney (58 percent) and Berlin (51 percent). Sixth to 10th place went to Monterrey, Mexico; Munich, Germany; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Vancouver; and Seoul. Cities in the US were ranked separately, with Minneapolis first at
The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association has cautioned Japanese travelers to be vigilant against pickpockets at several popular tourist spots in Taiwan, including Taipei’s night markets, the Yongkang Street area, Zhongshan MRT Station, and Jiufen (九份) in New Taipei City. The advisory, titled “Recent Development of Concerns,” was posted on the association’s Web site under its safety and emergency report section. It urges travelers to keep backpacks fully zipped and carried in front, with valuables placed at the bottom of the bag. Visitors are advised to be especially mindful of their belongings when taking photos or speaking on the phone, avoid storing wallets and
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
RSS