By Chris Wang / Staff reporter, in Chiayi County
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday concluded his second trip to southern Taiwan in as many months with a visit to a disabled girl he adopted 15 years ago.
Lee, 89, visited the Sacred Heart-Francis Home, which is now known as the Mindao Home, located in Puzih City (朴子), Chiayi County, yesterday afternoon.
The visit concluded his three-day trip to southern Taiwan, the main purpose of which was to observe agricultural development.
NO SHOW:The 89-year-old former president said he would rather offer his experience than resort to ‘extreme’ measures to embarrass Ma Ying-jeou
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter, in Chiayi City
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday he had declined an invitation to attend President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration ceremony on Sunday as “a form of silent protest” about Ma’s policies.
Speaking at a press conference in Greater Tainan, the 89-year-old said he was aware that a series of massive protests would coincide with the ceremony and added that people have the right to voice their opinion.
However, as a former president, he said he would rather offer his experience to Ma than resort to “extreme ways” to embarrass the incumbent president.
‘VOICE YOUR OPPOSITION’:The former president said that if the government did not grant subsidies, farmers should take to the streets — and he would join them
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter, in Greater Tainan
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday began a three-day trip to agricultural areas in Chiayi and Tainan in the hope of understanding more about the sector, which used to be Taiwan’s pride, but has been facing numerous challenges in recent years.
This was the 89-year-old’s second trip to southern Taiwan, after a visit to Greater Kaohsiung and Pingtung County last month. He has been recovering from surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in November last year.
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Former Mainland Affairs Council chairman and representative to the US Joseph Wu, left, and Taiwan Brain Trust chairman Wu Rong-i take part in a panel discussion in Taipei yesterday about what President Ma Ying-jeou may say when he is inaugurated for his second term on Sunday.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) would be making a serious and irreversible mistake if he succumbed to Chinese pressure and included the “one country, two areas” (一國兩區) proposal in his inauguration speech for his second term on Sunday, political analysts said yesterday.
MONKEY BUSINESS?A motion to impeach the president was voted off the agenda after opposition legislators withdrew from yesterday’s Procedure Committee meeting
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday blocked the opposition’s proposal to impeach President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — five days before the end of Ma’s first term. The KMT’s move drew criticism from opposition lawmakers, who argued that the vote was illegal and unconstitutional.
The legislature’s 19-member Procedure Committee voted the motion off the legislative agenda by a 9-0 vote.
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
More than 30 pro-independence organizations yesterday began an eight-day rally calling for the release of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and protesting against what they regard as President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) poor performance.
Gathered in front of the Taipei Railway Station, the civic groups released a nine-point statement on a wide range of issues, including freezing fuel and electricity prices, keeping the ban on beef imports containing the livestock feed additive ractopamine, Chen’s release from jail, the elimination of nuclear power, amendments to the Referendum Act (公投法), reform of the electoral system, self-determination for Taiwan and ending “inappropriate” land expropriation.
ATTACK ON MA:Former Democratic Progressive party chairperson Tsai Ing-wen said in a TV interview that President Ma Ying-jeou should stop behaving as a one-man show
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) revealed her interest in running for the presidency again in 2016 for the first time since losing in January’s presidential election, saying in a television interview aired last night that she would make herself an “option.”
“As a politician, I will continue to make myself an option,” Tsai said in response to a question on whether she plans to run again in four years in an interview with Sanlih television, the first she has given since the election.
‘SPLIT VOTE’:：The other four candidates for DPP chairperson may form an ‘anti-Su’ front, but they have also split the ‘anti-Su’ vote, a party official said
By Chris Wang 王思捷 / Staff reporter
Mon, May 14, 2012 - Page 3
Everything has been proceeding as planned for former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), tipped as the favorite to win the May 27 Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson election, despite what looks like the other candidates repeatedly ganging up to attack him.
While the senior politician might have disapproved of the collaborative “anti-Su” effort of the last televised debate on Saturday, he remained unruffled by a series of accusations which questioned his integrity and even his humanity — perhaps because he knows he is too strong to be defeated.
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The office of former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) denied a media report saying that a fugitive had spent NT$50 million (US$1.7 million) to aid her campaign in the January presidential election.
The Chinese-language China Times Weekly magazine reported this week that former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) family physician Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥), who lives in California, mobilized and compensated overseas Taiwanese to return and vote for Tsai in the Jan. 14 election.
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), the hotly tipped favorite in the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) chairperson election, was on the defensive yesterday in the final televised debate ahead of the May 27 vote, after his detractors focused on a series of incidents that brought into question his integrity and humanity.
The heated discussion between the five candidates was led by former DPP chairperson Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良), who was accused of turning the political contest into an “anti-Su” event.
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Fri, May 11, 2012 - Page 1
More than half of respondents in a survey published yesterday said that if President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) were a brand, his brand personality would be that of an “over-packaged product” with “exaggerated claims of effectiveness.”
The three most chosen descriptions of Ma’s brand were all negative, with 60.6 percent of participants saying Ma was “over-packaged,” 53.3 percent saying his abilities were “exaggerated” and 38.5 percent seeing him as “an expired, deteriorating product” in the survey conducted by research firm Taiwan Indicators Survey Research.
‘VERY SMALL RESHUFFLE’:：The premier said at the Cabinet meeting that reform would always face opposition, so the government needed to explain and defend its policies
By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Chris Wang / Staff reporters
Fri, May 11, 2012 - Page 1
Embattled Premier Sean Chen yesterday hinted that he planned to continue in his post and that there could be a “very small” Cabinet reshuffle as a handful of officials return to academia, following President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration for his second term on May 20.
Chen made the remarks after he led the Cabinet in resigning en masse yesterday, a move that is in line with constitutional practice, ahead of the swearing-in of the president.
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Reform of the electoral system to increase both space and resources for minor political parties is required for the long-term development of Taiwan’s democracy, advocates said yesterday.
“Give them [smaller political parties] more opportunities and air to breathe,” People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chang Show-foong (張曉風) told a press conference organized by opposition party representatives.
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday called on the judiciary to step up its investigation into President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and vice president-elect Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) involvement in allegations of misuse of NT$215 million (US$7.3 milion) of public funds to stage the musical Dreamers (夢想家) last year.
“We urge prosecutors, as well as the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division [SID], to investigate possible misconduct by Ma and Wu,” DPP Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) told a press conference.
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Having a monopoly on local liquefied natural gas (LNG) allows CPC Corp, Taiwan to reap extravagant profits and is likely a factor in electricity prices, a lawmaker said yesterday.
“CPC should disclose all the documents related to its overseas LNG purchases and domestic sales amid the hotly debated controversy over recent hikes of fuel and electricity prices,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) told a press conference.
