Tens of thousands of piggy banks handed out nationwide as part of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) “three little pigs” fundraising campaign were yesterday delivered to DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national campaign headquarters in New Taipei City (新北市).
All the piggy banks, returned by supporters to campaign headquarters in cities and counties around the country, were transported to Tsai’s national headquarters in Banciao District (板橋), where campaign staff then arranged them in the shape of Taiwan.
Hundreds of people gathered at the national headquarters from early in the morning, as more than 100 vehicles from all over the country arrived to unload the piggy banks.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said on Saturday that on average a large 20 tonne truck could hold about 5,000 piggy banks, while smaller 5 tonne to 6 tonnes trucks could carry about 1,000 piggy banks.
Campaign spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said the piggy banks came from the northernmost point of the nation, in Keelung, and the southernmost in Hengchun (恆春), Pingtung County.
Some even came from as far as the outlying island of Penghu, Hsu said.
“As more than 70,000 piggy banks were returned on the ‘homecoming day’ rally on Dec. 10, and more than 40,000 piggy banks yesterday, the headquarters calculates it has received more than 110,000 piggy banks altogether,” Hsu said.
More than 100 staffers punched holes in the back of the piggy banks with specially designed equipment and then sorted the coins and bills.
A large number of coins were then laid over a huge representation of Taiwan within the headquarters building, signifying “fairness and justice spread throughout Taiwan, escorting Tsai Ing-wen to the Presidential Office.”
Hsu said the campaign has broken a world record by supporters donating the largest number of coins in an election campaign. The coins and bills will be deposited in the party’s political donations account next month, she said.
The party launched the campaign in the wake of a warning from the Control Yuan, which said the DPP’s acceptance of three piggy banks from a set of young triplets was a possible violation of the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法).
In response, the DPP started distributing piggy banks around the country.
As many as 300,000 banks were distributed.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
RSS