Shifting focus from the election campaign themes of referendums and political parties' assets, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday championed the accomplishments of his presidency, claiming that Taiwan's economy is on the mend and urging the public to retain their trust in the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) rule.
"On the stock market's first day of trading in 2004, it increased by 150 points. I want everybody to know that, in fact, last year alone, the stock market went up by almost 1500 points. This represents a total national estate worth NT$1 trillion, which means that the assets of each of Taiwan's 23 million people increased by NT$164,000 on average. This is a good omen," he said.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"The property market is moving upwards again for the first time in four-and-a-half years, thanks to the government's sound policies and improved efforts. As we can see, the good times are returning; our hopes and dreams are being satisfied," Chen said.
"And yet, there are still people blowing their own trumpets, seeing only a bleak future. Let me tell everybody; the worst, the bitterest days, are over," he said.
The DPP's presidential election campaign yesterday centered on northern Taiwan, combining forces in Taipei, Keelung and Ilan Counties for a congress of supporters of the Chen-Lu presidential ticket. Together, Chen and his running mate, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), emphasized the recovering economy and robustly promoted the achievements and on-going reforms of their administration.
Chen stressed that because of the international economic decline, continuous provocation from China as well as Taiwan's own structural problems, "We have really had a tough time."
But, he said, in the true spirit of children of Taiwan, we created endless possibilities and completed many tasks, even in difficult circumstances.
By way of example, Chen said that in the four years of his administration, there had been no collapse of economic institutions and no pilfering of economic institutions' assets like during the years of KMT rule.
Vice President Annette Lu urged the public to believe in Taiwan's strength and potential and support the government.
"We rank No. 5 out of 195 countries in the global competitiveness report of the World Economic Forum and we are No. 1 in Asia. Therefore, Taiwanese people should be confident about us and keep faith in Taiwan. How can anyone say Taiwan doesn't have a future?" Lu said.
She described this year's presidential election as the most difficult campaign ever facing the DPP because it is a battle between "one DPP" versus an alliance of "three and one" parties, which means the pan-blue camp's Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the People First Party (PFP) and the New Party, and the world's most arbitrary party -- the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
"Fortunately, we have the support of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and the Taiwanese people, who are all cherishing the hard-obtained fruits of democracy and refuse to buckle under China's threats," Lu said.
In order to promote Chen's resolution to hold a national referendum on election day to ask China to withdraw all ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan, Lu said that she would push for a national movement of "saving Taiwan with peace," and demand the UN act according to its charter and take seriously Taiwan's justified request for China to remove its missiles.
"Taiwan doesn't belong only to Taiwanese, but to everyone in the world. Taiwan's pursuit of democracy is like a climb up Jade Mountain (
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about 1,900 as
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
RSS