Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials were in an exuberant mood at the party’s first national campaign meeting yesterday as Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said social issues, in particular income inequality, would be the central pitch of her presidential campaign.
“Today, Taiwanese society is calling on us again,” Tsai told hundreds of campaign officials at the meeting, saying that not only have the underprivileged suffered under President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration in the past three-and-a-half years, but the middle class has also been plagued by stagnant wages, high unemployment and poor industrial competitiveness.
In a nutshell, she said, most people are under the threat of poverty and income inequality.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
She proposed tax reforms that would make capital gains tax — rather than income tax — the major source of government revenue. The first step would be reforms to the real-estate transaction tax to stop property speculation, she said.
The DPP would also make good governance a central issue of the campaign, which Tsai said would be crucial to sustaining Taiwan’s democratic way of life, maintaining social justice and creating a sustainable environment.
The DPP always prides itself as being the party that “stands by the people,” she said, and despite the setbacks of the past few years, that spirit has never changed.
While the absence of former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who is abroad, and DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) raised some eyebrows, DPP officials looked confident after a two-hour discussion of the details of the campaign, from strategy to the division of labor.
They were briefed on a national opinion poll that showed that Tsai is leading Ma by a slim margin and the DPP gaining ground in northern and central Taiwan, which have traditionally been Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) strongholds.
The DPP was satisfied with the progress and tempo of the campaign, said Lin Hsi-yao (林錫耀), a senior aide in Tsai’s office who is in charge of campaign operations.
The major task before the party’s national campaign headquarters is set up in Banciao (板橋), New Taipei City (新北市), in October will be grassroots-level organizational work in civic organizations, the private sector and religious groups, Lin said.
The campaign office will unveil its second campaign slogan, following the “Taiwan NEXT” slogan, very soon and it will highlight the poverty issue, he said.
Tsai shared the podium with former premiers Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Yu Shyi-kun, all of whom are expected to play important roles in the campaign, as well as other prominent party members.
As campaign chairman — more a symbolic position than a functional one — Su would be able to help Tsai a great deal by simply voicing his support, Lin said.
Hsieh will be in charge of mobilization and Internet campaigning, while Yu will be the campaign’s finance officer, he said.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS