President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced yesterday that Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) would be his running mate in next year’s presidential election, adding that Wu would not need to step down as premier to engage in campaign activities.
Lauding Wu as a trusted premier whose administrative capabilities left him at ease, Ma told a news conference that he consulted a number of people on a possible running mate before tapping Wu, a decision he said would be to the country’s greatest benefit.
He said that as premier, Wu has demonstrated exceptional leadership and administrative capabilities that have helped improve the efficiency of the central government as well as the private sector’s competitiveness, helping it become one of the top 10 in the world in the past two annual IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook rankings.
Photo: Patrick Lin, AFP
Saying that Wu would not need to step down as premier for the time being, Ma added that he “would consider the matter in the future when it becomes necessary.”
Asked why he did not choose a person with a strong economic background as his running mate, Ma said his choice of the premier — a trained historian who has been a journalist and served as Kaohsiung mayor — did not mean he would ignore the country’s economic development.
“I will continue drawing on Vice President Vincent Siew’s (蕭萬長) expertise and experience in the economic field and will keep him on as a top economic planner in my new administration,” said Ma, who doubles as chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Siew was present at the news conference.
Wu likened his selection as the KMT’s vice presidential candidate to going to battle.
“A soldier has no right to choose his battlefield,” Wu said. “I’ll do my utmost to help President Ma achieve his re-election goal.”
Most KMT lawmakers welcomed Ma’s choice of Wu as running mate.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said the Ma-Wu ticket is the best possible team the party could field for the presidential race, adding that he believed Wu complemented the president in terms of their political personalities and characteristics.
KMT Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said Ma and Wu have shown that they work well together, but cautioned that it remained to be seen if Wu’s addition to the ticket would boost support for Ma.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲), on the other hand, panned Wu’s selection as “lacking creativity” and reflecting the KMT’s lack of talent.
“The Ma-Wu ticket is so weak that voters will move their support away from it,” Kuan said.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said it was rare that a ruling party would launch its presidential campaign before the opposition did.
“Ma’s announcement today that he picked Wu as his running mate indicates that the KMT is really panicking over the 2012 presidential race,” Gao said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)