Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) unexpectedly dropped her bid for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential nomination yesterday afternoon.
“I wish the other candidates the best, but I won’t join the 2012 DPP presidential primaries,” Lu said at a press conference where she was originally expected to unveil her cross-strait policies.
Lu said she was deeply affected by the natural disasters in Japan and claimed her decision was due to a “sign from God.”
“Even with this kind of disaster taking place so close to Taiwan, not many people are willing to reflect on what needs to be done,” she said, explaining her decision to drop the presidential bid in order to spend more time on the environmental movement. “Maybe I’ll lose a few supporters, but I have to do what has to be done.”
At the press conference, Lu recounted her political journey, from a feminist leader to jailed democracy activist and then eventually Taiwan’s first female vice--president, serving two terms with former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
“I have experienced every kind of out-of-luck situation, but I’m still standing here today. My biggest wish is to see more people serve this country,” she said.
On Feb. 28, Lu declared her candidacy for the DPP nomination to become the nation’s first female head of state, launching her campaign with the words: “I have the experience to be president.”
However, despite her more than two weeks head start against two other DPP candidates — Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who temporarily stepped down as party chairperson to run for the DPP nomination, and former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) — Lu, 66, struggled in the opinion polls that will be used to decide the party primaries.
Her proposal to change the national anthem, move the capital from Taipei and push for a referendum to rename the country also drew mixed responses from the public, despite canvassing heavily nationwide.
A poll conducted by the Chinese-language United Daily News released on March 11 suggested Lu had the lowest chance of all DPP presidential hopefuls. If the two faced off, Ma would receive 41 percent against Lu’s 17 percent; Tsai and Su would instead receive 31 percent each, the survey showed.
Lu yesterday made no mention of those poll numbers and gave no endorsement to either Tsai or Su.
Meanwhile, Liu said she would quit her elected post in the DPP’s Central Executive Committee, listing what she said were a number of problems, including a factional system that has drawn criticism in the past.
She vowed to continue her work in politics through the China Research Center as part of the Institute of National Development she helped create. Critiques, she said, would continue to be offered on the DPP’s cross-strait policies.
Lu’s announcement yesterday came as a relief to DPP politicians who were growing concerned about how a three-way race might split the party in a decisive election year.
DPP caucus chief Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), the acting party chairperson, immediately released a statement saying that Lu’s decision was a “tremendous help to party unity and the [DPP’s] chances of success in the elections.”
“It will have a huge impact on the DPP — a positive impact. The party will continue to look toward her for guidance in the future,” Ker added.
Both Tsai and Su said they respected Lu’s decision.
Tsai said while canvassing in Chiayi County yesterday that she “admired Lu’s ability to look at the big picture and her concern about unity within the party.”
Lu’s announcement will increase the chances that a deal on who to nominate can be brokered behind closed-doors before Tsai and Su head into the primaries based entirely on telephone polls.
The party is expected to hold at least two more high-level meetings on the issue before it holds the polls between April 25 and April 29. It is understood that informal polls will be held beforehand that will be provided to the two candidates as a reference.
The DPP currently expects that a presidential candidate will be finalized by May 4, if not sooner, pending discussions between Tsai and Su.
‘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
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
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