President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign office yesterday questioned the legitimacy of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) “three little pigs” donation campaign and accused Tsai’s camp of using children as a campaign tool.
Tsai, the DPP’s presidential candidate, and her election team launched the “three little pigs” campaign late last month after the Control Yuan warned the DPP about a possible violation of the Act Governing Political Donations (政治獻金管理條例) when the party accepted piggy banks donated by three-year-old triplets. The act stipulates that only people of voting age who meet other voting eligibility requirements are allowed to make political donations.
The DPP returned the piggy banks to the children, but the incident sparked a fad among Tsai’s supporters to put their donations in piggy banks. The DPP later declared this month “little pigs month” and has used children as campaign spokespeople to call on supporters to fill piggy banks to support Tsai’s campaign.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
Ma’s campaign spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) yesterday said the DPP should put a stop to the piggy bank drive, as it violates the law by seeking political donations from children.
Lee denied that the campaign team or the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) reported the piggy bank incident to the Control Yuan and said the DPP’s act of returning the piggy banks to the triplets showed that the party acknowledged its mistakes.
“We are not against the participation of children in campaign activities, but it is illegal to solicit political donations from children ... If such an incident happened in our camp, would the DPP keep quiet about it?” she said.
Lee said the campaign team had received complaints from parents who said they were saddened to see children appear at DPP fundraisers because they seemed to be used as a campaign ploy.
In Ma’s campaign souvenir shops, she said, campaign staff would remind supporters that only Taiwanese over the age of 20 are qualified to buy campaign products.
“We cautiously follow legal regulations and we urge the DPP to stop flouting the law immediately,” she said.
In response, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) hit back at the KMT for “never understanding [the virtue] of engaging in introspection.”
The KMT doesn’t understand that it [the three little pigs campaign] reflects people’s grievances about the current situation and their desire for change,” Lin said, adding that “the more the KMT oppresses [the three little pigs campaign], the stronger the support from the people [for the campaign.]”
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from