Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday dismissed a rumor alleging that she is trying to “annihilate” New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) potential presidential campaign two years in advance.
She also made remarks on what she described as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) traditional smear campaign tactics.
“[The rumor] is simply too dramatic,” Tsai said in response to a question from reporters in Chiayi County, where she attended a campaign rally for the seven-in-one elections in November.
Tsai, who agreed to work as campaign director for former premier Yu Shyi-kun’s (游錫堃) New Taipei City mayoral candidacy, was referring to a media report saying that she did so in order to present Chu with another roadblock before engaging in his widely expected run for the presidency.
Quoting unnamed DPP politicians, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported yesterday that Tsai was campaigning hard for Yu and hoped that Chu either edges or loses to Yu by a small margin, so that Chu — one of the strongest presidential hopefuls in the KMT — would lose his advantages over other contenders, including Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), and there would be infighting in the KMT.
The report also said that Tsai has mobilized “Friends of Tsai Ing-wen,” a grassroots organization, to campaign for Yu.
It added that Yu’s polling deficit against Chu could be overestimated, because the DPP’s vote share in the battleground constituency had never finished under 40 percent.
Tsai said she was only “returning a favor” to Yu, who served as her campaign director in the last New Taipei mayoral election, when Tsai secured 47 percent of the total votes, but lost to Chu by more than 100,000 votes.
Additionally, Tsai described the so-called “Yu Chang (宇昌) case” — which the KMT used to attack her integrity during the presidential campaign in 2011 — as “the worst example of how a ruling party sacrificed a strategically important sector for political gains.”
On Saturday, Academia Sinica member David Ho (何大一), a world-renowned AIDS specialist, told reporters that the success of Yu Chang Biologics Co (宇昌生技股份有限公司), now known as TaiMed Biologics Inc (中裕新藥股份有限公司), showed that the so-called Yu Chang case was not a scandal.
TaiMed is currently listed at NT$160 on the over-the-counter GRETAI Securities Market (GTSM, 櫃檯買賣中心).
The KMT accused Tsai of corruption and manipulating investments by the National Development Fund in TaiMed when she was vice premier in 2007, leading to a series of investigations by the Control Yuan and the judiciary, but Tsai was cleared of any wrongdoing.
The biotechnology sector could become the pioneering sector for Taiwan at a time when the country is in need of improved industrial viability, and the government should help the sector develop rather than make it a sacrificial lamb for political competition and elections, Tsai said yesterday.
“During the previous presidential election, this administration had not only exploited the strategic industry as a tool of its campaign, but also smeared anyone who was involved in the development of the industry,” Tsai said.
“Hopefully, society would be reminded that the episode serves as the worst example for the nation, and things like this would never happen again,” she added.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS