An instant poll conducted by the search engine Yahoo-Kimo, the Taiwan unit of Yahoo, yesterday found that 38 percent of respondents thought Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had performed best in the first televised presidential debate.
Thirty-one percent of respondents favored People First Party presidential candidate James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) performance, while 29 percent said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) performed better.
Two percent said they were undecided or had no opinion.
Yesterday’s first televised presidential debate took place from 2pm to 4:30pm.
The online poll was conducted from 2pm to 6pm on the question: “Whose performance in the presidential debate did you find the most satisfactory?”
According to Yahoo-Kimo, a total of 12,406 people voted during the four hours. Among them, 4,762 voted in favor of Tsai’s performance, 3,785 in favor of Soong’s performance and 3,629 in favor of Ma’s performance.
At the post-debate press conference, Ma declined to comment on his own performance in the debate, but praised both Tsai and Soong for their performances, promising to value their advice and criticisms.
Ma, in his opening remarks in the debate, used “Taiwan” for the first time when referring to the nation, but later declined to confirm that his recognition of Taiwan as the nation’s title represented his agreement with Tsai’s rhetoric that “the Republic of China [ROC] is Taiwan.”
“When we say ‘Taiwan,’ most of the time we are referring to the ROC. ‘Taiwan’ is the common title for the nation,” Ma said.
On his position on future visits to China if re-elected, which he failed to answer during the debate, Ma said he would not visit China if he could not make the trip as the nation’s leader.
Tsai said at her post-debate press conference that she was glad her proposed “Taiwan consensus” was discussed in the debate and that it would serve as a notice to Beijing, “because China has to realize that if I am elected in January, I would be able to represent the mainstream public opinion.”
Tsai said she also welcomed a surprising remark by Ma, who said in his opening remarks that “Taiwan is also my country” — the first time he has done so in a public setting.
When asked whether she would make a “no independence” pledge, Tsai said the so-called independence is not an issue for the DPP because the party has made it clear that Taiwan is an independent and sovereign country with the current name of the ROC.
It is Ma who has to ask himself where the issue of unification comes from if Ma now views Taiwan as a sovereign country, Tsai said, “and if Taiwan is his country, does the ‘three noes policy’ still mean anything?”
When asked to comment on her debate performance, Tsai said: “Overall, I think I did pretty well.”
Meanwhile, Soong, at his post-debate press conference, when asked by the press whether he felt he seemed to be ignored by Ma and Tsai during the debate, said he was happy to be marginalized “because they both engaged in trivial issues rather than ideas to rule the country.”
While giving high praise for Ma and Tsai for their performance, Soong added that he also put a lot of effort into the debate.
Soong pledged to establish a “Two Rs” government — Responsible and Responsive — if he is elected, to embody the value of the country’s democracy.
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
WAR’S END ANNIVERSARY: ‘Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,’ the president said on social media after attending a morning ceremony Countries should uphold peace, and promote freedom and democracy, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as Taiwan marked 80 years since the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and other top officials in the morning attended a ceremony at the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to honor those who sacrificed their lives in major battles. “Taiwanese are peace-loving. Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,” Lai wrote on Facebook afterward, apparently to highlight the contrast with the military parade in Beijing marking the same anniversary. “We
RSS