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-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2