Ratcheting up momentum for his campaign, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday led a large campaign rally and march in Taipei that attracted tens of thousands of supporters on the final Sunday before the presidential election.
Rallies, titled “Stand up for Taiwan,” were simultaneously held in Greater Taichung as well as Hualien and Taitung counties yesterday afternoon.
In Taipei, a large crowd began gathering at Taipei City Hall at noon for a march to Ketagalan Boulevard, waving campaign flags, national flags and holding signs with slogans, such as: “Victory for Ma Ying-jeou” and: “Ma, Only U Ma, four more years!”
Photo: CNA
Ma appeared on stage at about 2:30pm and drew loud cheers from the crowd. He thanked supporters for their passion before leading the march and said the event highlighted his goal of continuing to lead Taiwan forward.
“The country is walking on the right path with a vigorous economy, clean government, just society and peaceful cross-strait relations. We should not change that direction and let’s continue on this path and move forward,” he said.
Accompanied by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), Ma then started walking toward Ketagalan Boulevard, but could barely move for a while as he was swamped by supporters.
To ensure a large turnout, the KMT mobilized members from all branches, local factions and support groups.
Waving national flags and cheering from the sidewalk with her children, a 40-year-old Taipei resident surnamed Lin (林) said Ma deserved a second term because of his efforts to improve cross-strait relations and boost the economy.
When Ma completed the march two hours later, Ketagalan Boulevard was packed as the crowd spilled into adjacent roads. The rally attracted about 250,000 people, the organizers said.
Surrounded by KMT heavyweights and legislative candidates, Ma took the stage on Ketagalan Boulevard amid cheers from the crowd as they chanted: “Standing up for Taiwan” and: “President Ma, dong suan [凍蒜, Taiwanese for getting elected].”
Ma attacked the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and said that DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) should apologize for what he called “mistakes in the past.”
“Chairperson Tsai and the DPP said we cannot move on from Chen’s corruption cases. The reason we keep mentioning the cases is because history happened and the mistakes may have been forgiven, but the lesson should not be forgotten,” he said.
Ma questioned Tsai’s integrity over recent allegations about her role in an investment case and accused her of being evasive when facing confrontation.
“Chairperson Tsai spent six months talking about a ‘Taiwan consensus,’ but still failed to offer a clear explanation … Rather than waiting for what she called a Taiwan consensus to be formed, why don’t you all let me continue with the current cross-strait policies?” he said.
First lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) and Ma’s running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), led a rally in Greater Taichung.
Ma later traveled to Greater Tainan and campaigned in Shao Bei Night Market as an attempt to boost support in the south.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
RSS