Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday likened the struggle of her campaign to gain momentum to Republic of China (ROC) founding father Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) initial failures to overthrow the Qing Dynasty.
According to a poll conducted by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research (TISR) and released on Friday, Hung’s support has dropped to 12.7 percent, a decline from the 15 percent backing she received in a poll released by the Cross-strait Policy Association on Wednesday.
Of those surveyed, 37.3 percent in the Taiwan Indicators poll said they would vote for Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), while People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) garnered 19.1 percent.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Asked about rumors that some within the KMT’s own ranks oppose her candidacy and have asked her to withdraw if her numbers do not improve — with KMT Taipei City Councilor Lee Hsin (李新) proposing a head-to-head vote be conducted between Hung and Soong — Hung cited Sun as an example to demonstrate her resolve.
“Do you know how many times Sun launched insurrections against the Qing Dynasty before he finally succeeded? How could the ROC have been established if he had given up after just a single failure?” she said.
When asked about the possibility of a team-up between the KMT and the PFP, Hung said on Friday night it is “not possible” and reiterated yesterday that she is the candidate endorsed by the KMT’s national congress.
Hung also explained what she meant when she said in an interview on Friday night that she would like “more attention from [Legislative Speaker] Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and [Vice President] Wu Den-yih (吳敦義),” denying she was suggesting the two are reluctant to help.
“It is just a call for party solidarity. People have the feeling that that the campaign is picking up momentum, but we just hope that the effort can speed up more,” she said.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS