Despite rain and a cold front, tens of thousands of people gathered in a stadium in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) and on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei to attend the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) twin election eve rallies.
“Over the past four years, I’ve traveled around Taiwan, I’ve seen the suffering of the people and I’ve heard the public’s call for change,” Tsai told the Banciao crowd, triggering rounds of cheers and calls for her to win the election. “The third rotation of power [in the nation’s history] should further deepen democracy in Taiwan, fuel economic development and, most importantly, allow people to regain trust in politics. Democratic politics is responsible politics, if [a government] cannot do it well, then we change it.”
Tsai promised that she would not let the public down, saying she hopes that years from now, when people think of this year’s presidential election, they can proudly and loudly say that they voted for Tsai and voted for change in Taiwan with no regrets.
Photo: CNA
“I want everyone to go to polling stations with hope and expectations,” Tsai said. “We need your vote for the nation’s progress.”
Following the rally in New Taipei City, Tsai and her running mate, Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), traveled to Taipei to join the other tens of thousands of supporters awaiting them on Ketagalan Boulevard, asking her supporters in Banciao to follow.
“Please come with me to Ketagalan Boulevard, be my company on the last mile,” Tsai said, followed by hundreds of supporters immediately departing for Taipei.
Tsai began the last day of the presidential campaign in Taichung’s Fengyuan District (豐原), where she has rented a house, which she calls her new home.
She paraded through Fengyuan, where thousands of supporters lined up along her motorcade’s route to welcome her with cheering and flag-waving.
Speaking at a campaign stop, Tsai said it was everyone’s responsibility to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait.
“We hope cross-strait relations can be peaceful, can develop and at the same time maintain the ‘status quo’ for all parties, including China,” Tsai said. “All parties must work hard together to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait.”
She then made her way through Miaoli County, Hsinchu City and Taoyuan, before heading to the rally in New Taipei City.
Despite having garnered more than 1 million votes in an election for then Taipei County’s top office, which she lost to New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) by 100,000 votes, Tsai received a hero’s welcome from supporters in the city’s Sanchong District (三重).
Passersby, shop owners, nurses, doctors, hairdressers, bank employees, cooks and other people from all walks of life came out from their places of work prior to Tsai’s arrival to wave as she passed, take photographs of her with their cellphones and shout their support as her motorcade passed by.
In Taipei, supporters also lined up along the streets and roads where Tsai’s motorcade was to pass to show their support for her.
At the rally in Taipei, Tsai called on all supporters to go to polling stations to cast their ballots regardless of today’s weather and promised that the party’s legislator-at-large candidates would best represent social justice and public interests, urging supporters not to divert votes to other parties that might share ideologies with the DPP.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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