Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) chose Taichung and New Taipei City for the party’s election eve campaign rallies to drum up momentum for today’s presidential and legislative elections.
Chu began the day by accompanying the KMT’s Taipei legislative candidates through their final round of street-canvassing yesterday morning.
In response to media queries on whether he wore a bullet proof vest, as other candidates have worn on advice from the National Security Agency, Chu said: “I have faith in Taiwan’s public security, and in our democracy too, so I have no intention to wear [a bullet proof vest].”
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
In Taichung, where the rally officially began at 6:30pm, hundreds of red plastic stools for participants were carried to the venue, a plaza next to the Taichung High-Speed Rail Station, by scores of buses from different districts of Taichung.
Chu, who arrived an hour after the rally started, gave a 10-minute speech, calling on his supporters to “go out and vote, not for [Chu] nor for the KMT, but for Taiwan, for the next generation and for the Republic of China [ROC].”
“During the nine-in-one elections in 2014, many of our supporters were upset about our governance and refused to vote. However, this time I plead with you to come out and vote no matter how unsatisfied you are or how much of a grudge you harbor. For [today’s] presidential and legislative elections will decide the future of 23 million people,” Chu said. “We ask all pan-blue supporters to concentrate our votes, as we have learned our lessons before: The divisions among us will not deliver success.”
“The KMT is a party with a capacity for self-reflection. As we have once lost power before, we know that the right direction deserves our perseverance and mistakes need corrections. People might still be a little dissatisfied with us, but we can improve if you give us the opportunity to fight for the ROC,” Chu said.
“The most salient differences between me and [Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate] Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) are national identity, cross-strait, national defense and diplomatic policies. I stand for the Republic of China and the ROC flag, cross-strait peace and viable diplomacy,” he said.
“I am different from Tsai in one other aspect, which is that I am from the grassroots level; for 16 of the past 17 years that I have been in politics, I was at the local level, knowing what the general public needs. Tsai said [policies Chu proposed for various problems concerning daily life were about] ‘minor joys,’ but these are what the public cares about,” Chu said.
“Do not let Taiwan be the punching bag for your grudge. Vote for the Republic of China,” he said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and other KMT heavyweights, including Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), also attended the rally.
Wang said the KMT should be thanked for Taiwan’s economic miracle and democracy.
“It is only because we have these two things that Taiwan has been able to shine on the global stage,” Wang said.
Wang said that Chu is the right person and the KMT the right party to continue Taiwan’s development and cross-strait peace.
“The legislature will be at peace if [a party] has a majority in it,” he added.
Meawhile, due to rain, many seats at the outdoor rally at New Taipei City’s Banciao First Sports Ground remained empty after it began at 7pm.
Most participants wore hats and raincoats to keep off the rain, but the gear did not prevent them from fervently waving ROC national flags and Chu’s “One Taiwan” campaign flags.
The KMT headquarters estimated the number of participants at the New Taipei City rally at 50,000.
Dismissing criticism of his governance, Ma took the stage and said that his administration has outshone that of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the DPP in many aspects.
Ma then bowed at a 90o angle for eight seconds to appeal to voters to cast their ballots for the KMT and its candidates.
Urging voters to refrain from letting their grudges against the KMT cloud their judgement, Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said that under Chen, Taiwan was stigmatized as a corrupt state and damaged by the former president’s “scorched-earth” diplomacy.
“Let us use our ballots to show Chu our expectations of him and send him into the Presidential Office to work like a horse for us,” Hung said.
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