Amid good-luck wishes yesterday from people in Fenggang Village (楓港) in Pingtung County’s Fangshan Township (枋山), her parents’ home town, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) paraded through Pingtung and Kaohsiung, greeted by supporters along the way, launching her final-week nationwide campaign tour before the presidential election on Saturday.
“Four years ago, I started my presidential campaign trip along Provincial Highway No. 1 from Fenggang. Four years later, I have returned to my hometown, Pingtung. From here I will start my week-long campaign trip,” Tsai told more than 100 people in the small coastal village with a population of a little over 1,000 who gathered in front of the local Delong Temple (德隆宮). “I could feel the desire of the people in Pingtung to elect a president from here.”
“Please give me the best election outcome,” Tsai said, urging her supporters to also support the DPP’s district and legislator-at-large candidates.
Photo: AFP / Sam Yeh
Among the supporters, Tsai’s uncle, aunt and cousin were also in attendance. Her uncle and aunt brought Tsai a gift of zongzi (粽子, rice dumplings), which symbolize victory in Taiwanese culture.
Prior to Tsai’s arrival, the temple leaders walked around the facility to make sure that everything was well prepared “to welcome our President Tsai.”
Before speaking to the crowd, Tsai went into the temple to make offerings to the deities.
Photo: EPA / Ritchie B. Tongo
The temple master gave Tsai a flag with the temple’s and the deity’s name on it to express their goodwill, while two Paiwan leaders presented traditional headwear and a vest with a totem to recognize her as a “daughter of the Paiwan people,” as her grandmother was a Paiwan Aborigine.
Following a rally to launch the nationwide tour, Tsai, accompanied by DPP legislative candidate Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) and Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Meng-an (潘孟安), paraded through Linluo Township (麟洛) and neighboring Pingtung City.
“Dear friends and fellow Pingtung residents, Tsai Ing-wen is here in person, greeting all of you,” a campaigner said through loudspeaker.
“Please vote for Tsai to make Pingtung the home county of the president,” the campaigner said.
The announcements were made in Hakka while the parade was in Linluo, as it is a predominantly Hakka township, and switched to Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) as the parade crossed into Pingtung City, which is a predominantly Hoklo-speaking area.
Supporters gathered in groups along the parade route, waving flags, giving the thumbs-up gesture and screaming as the jeep carrying Tsai, Chung and Pan passed by.
“Mom, Tsai is coming. Look, I see her,” shouted a girl who stood outside a restaurant with her family waiting for the parade to pass, pointing to the direction that Tsai was coming from.
After the parade in Pingtung, Tsai accompanied the DPP’s Kaohsiung legislative candidates in a parade through the city and finished the day with an evening rally in Kaohsiung, which event organizers said had a turnout of 100,000 people.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique