Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday officially launched her presidential campaign with a speech pledging to bring back trust in the government and hope for the future of the country.
“I hear Taiwan’s voice and it’s telling me that a new generational change of power is rising, that we must start to walk a different road,” Tsai told a gathering of officials in the morning.
Standing in her trademark black outfit, Tsai, 54, invoked destiny in seeking to reclaim the presidency, lost in 2008, promising a “more fair country” where Taiwanese would be their own masters.
Photo: AFP
She portrayed the campaign as not about her own candidacy, but as a reflection of growing pressure from the young, the poor and the dissatisfied, yearning for change in a country that is growing more divided by income and status.
“The reason for government is not to allow a few people to reap the benefits of economic growth, but to create a society where everyone can enjoy the fruits of prosperity,” Tsai said. “This is my belief and what I believe to be Taiwanese values.”
Tsai, who joined the DPP in 2004, is looking to cap her rapid rise to prominence by returning the broken and bruised party she inherited in 2008 back to the Presidential Office, becoming the country’s first female president.
Her 16-minute speech referred to the party’s resurgence to loud, long rounds of applause and she said that it has once again provided Taiwan with an alternative future in which the public can believe.
“Taiwan desperately needs a political choice away from the KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] and we must become that strong and viable choice,” she said. “Taiwanese are telling us that they want to be their own masters, devoted to this piece of land … I have heard these voices and I will not back down.”
Tsai also downplayed concerns over her lack of administrative and electoral experience, saying: “I have proven that the DPP can be reborn from the ashes.”
“People have said that I’m not political; that I can’t scheme and will be unable to live in the complicated political environment. However, in three years, I have shown … that scheming doesn’t have to be a part of politics, and that trust and debate are more important,” she said.
To receive the DPP’s nomination, Tsai will still have to battle against former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who represents a cadre of “party elders,” and possibly former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), seen as close to making an announcement of his own.
It wasn’t clear whether the two received invitations to the high-profile event given out earlier this week, although both failed to attend the announcement. Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), another possible contender, was absent. However, one of his supporters, former Cabinet spokesman Pasuya Yao (姚文智), was there.
Party observers were closely watching participants at the venue for signals of support from the DPP’s many factions and divides.
Lacking were politicians connected to Su and Lu.
Also in attendance were pro-independence heavyweights such as Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏), pointing to backing from the DPP’s more fundamental wing and seen as important to clinching party support in the primaries.
To cast aside allegations of a conflict of interest between her party leadership role, Tsai said on Thursday she would take a leave of absence, with the post temporarily filled by party veteran Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), the DPP caucus chief.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS