Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) political opponents criticized her news conference after a three-day break from her election campaign as being empty and meaningless, and for blaming others.
“Although Hung said that she has reflected on what she might have done wrong, we feel she had more thoughts on others’ wrongdoings than her own,” Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Wang Ming-sheng (王閔生) said yesterday. “She did not reflect on the failures of the governing party, and the sufferings that such failures have brought.”
“Apparently, there is a huge difference between the understanding and expectations of society,” he added.
Wang said that although he could not understand what exactly Hung wanted to say, he still respects her.
DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who has enjoyed a comfortable lead in public opinion polls so far, said she respects Hung’s thoughts and election campaign strategy.
She also said that her own campaign would follow its set pace.
People First Party presidential candidate James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) office said it “detects no substantive changes” after Hung’s break.
The KMT is the ruling party, and if its failures can be redressed now, those changes should be carried out immediately, the office said.
New Power Party legislative candidate Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said Hung’s three-day break was a waste of time.
“Hung has been a lawmaker for more than 20 years, and has served as deputy speaker,” Huang said. “Yet she only realized something that everybody already knows: Taiwan has descended into chaos and is a mess because of politicians such as her.”
Huang said that if Hung truly wants Taiwan to be a better place, “she should have realized that Taiwan would be better off without politicians like her.”
Social Democratic Party legislative candidate Fan Yun (范雲) also slammed Hung’s “thoughts after pondering” as empty and meaningless, adding that she is disappointed by what Hung said during the news conference.
“Governing a nation is not a composition contest. Hung should seek to realize social justice,” Fan said. “For example, she should respond to her much-criticized policy proposals, such as abolishing the capital gains tax and expanding legal overtime hours.”
Additional reporting by CNA
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS