Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for fair competition in the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) primary for the year-end Tainan mayoral election, as he returned to the city he governed as mayor for almost seven years to extend Lunar New Year greetings and distribute hongbao (紅包), or lucky red envelopes, to residents.
“All aspirants should engage in a gentlemen’s competition and secure voters’ support by proposing good policies,” said Lai, who took office as mayor in December 2010 and served until he was appointed premier in September last year.
Only through a fair fight could the DPP maintain the support and trust Tainan residents have long placed in the party, he said, adding that none of the alleged attacks and smears among the would-be candidates were true.
Photo: Chiu Hao-tang, Taipei Times
Six people have said they will seek the DPP nomination: DPP legislators Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲), Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), Yeh Yi-chin (葉宜津) and Wang Ding-yu (王定宇), as well as former lawmaker Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) and former deputy Tainan mayor Yen Chun-tso (顏純左).
Lai was accompanied by Huang, Chen, Yeh and Yen on his visits to the Kaitai Tianhou Temple (開台天后宮) in Anping District (安平), one of the nation’s oldest temples, and the Kuanyin Temple (觀音亭).
Meanwhile, Lunar New Year greetings by politicians in Taipei were also overshadowed by the year-end elections.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and DPP Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) — who has announced his bid for the DPP’s mayoral primary in the capital, visited Baoan Temple (保安宮) in the Dalongdong (大龍峒) area to hand out red envelopes.
Ko, an independent seeking re-election, was kept at a distance from Tsai and Yao, triggering renewed speculation as to whether the DPP intends to field its own candidate in the mayoral race, or endorse Ko again to consolidate the pan-green camp’s support base.
Ko declined to respond when reporters asked if he felt Tsai was playing favorites with Yao.
The Lunar New Year holiday was a time for “nice words” only, he said.
Asked the same question, Yao responded: “What do you think?”
He did not need anyone to play favorites because unity was what mattered, the lawmaker said.
The nine-in-one elections on Nov. 24 will see voters choose the mayors and city councilors in the six special municipalities, mayors and councilors in other cities, Aboriginal district representatives and councilors, county commissioners and councilors, township mayors and councilors, and borough and village wardens.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
Four former Hong Kong opposition lawmakers jailed in the territory’s largest national security case were released yesterday after more than four years in prison, the first among dozens convicted last year to regain their freedom. Former legislators Claudia Mo (毛孟靜), Jeremy Tam (譚文豪), Kwok Ka-ki (郭家麒) and Gary Fan (范國威) were part of a group of 47 public figures — including some of Hong Kong’s best-known democracy advocates — who were charged with subversion in 2021 for holding an informal primary election. The case fell under a National Security Law imposed on the territory by Beijng, and drew international condemnation and warnings