Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday announced that she would join the party’s primary for the presidential election next year.
“I have decided to join the DPP’s primary for president,” Tsai said on Facebook. “I have my dreams; I have my determination. I believe that resolute implementation of policies needs to be backed by calm thought.”
“Breaking through difficulties requires a strong will,” she said. “The nation needs reform, but pain will certainly accompany it; therefore I will unite with social forces and together we will solve the challenges the nation faces in a steady manner.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Tsai said that she does not mean to take Taiwan into “an age of the DPP or an age of Tsai.”
She said she would instead create an age that belongs to the public, an “age of [a] new politics of transparency, honesty, public participation, tolerance, clear division of power and responsibility, as well as firm protection of national sovereignty,” she said.
Tsai spoke of how she took over party leadership in 2008, when the DPP was facing its most difficult time, and resumed party leadership last year, after the Sunflower movement, when “party politics” became a negative term in the eyes of many.
She said she is focused on keeping the DPP vital and a good option in the political market.
Tsai said that the government should not just sit aside and watch people struggle to survive on their own and suffer under the leadership of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), adding that this was why she decided to run for president again.
Tsai’s office announced that she would register at 11am today as a candidate in the party primary.
Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) and former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who were both considered likely to enter the primary before announcing they would not, sent Tsai messages wishing her luck.
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
CHINESE INCURSIONS, SORTIES: President William Lai thanked military officers for shouldering the responsibility of defending the survival and development of Taiwan President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that aggression would inevitably fail, pointing — on the day before a mass military parade in Beijing — to the lessons from World War II and key victories Taiwan claims against Chinese forces in 1958. Taiwan has over the past five years repeatedly complained about heightened Chinese military activity including war games around the nation as Beijing steps up pressure to enforce territorial claims that Taipei rejects. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, are to oversee a military parade in Beijing today to mark the