President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday apologized for letting her administration become a burden on Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates in Saturday’s local elections, as she embarked on a series of trips across the nation to gather opinions from the party’s frontline campaign staff.
Tsai, who on Saturday evening resigned as DPP chairperson over the party’s losses, made the remarks at a Kaohsiung forum attended by members of a fan club for DPP Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), who lost to his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
Chen’s loss ended the DPP’s 20-year governance of the city, which has traditionally been a pan-green camp stronghold.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
Kaohsiung is one of the seven cities and the counties the DPP lost in the local elections. The party had won 13 cities and counties in the 2014 race.
“I would like first to apologize to you for letting the central government become a burden on local elections. I am here today to join you to identify and reflect on our mistakes,” Tsai said.
Elections are the cornerstone of democracy and are used by voters to evaluate a nation’s leaders, which is why post-election reflection is an important task that allows the defeated party to find where it had failed and where it should pick itself up again, Tsai said.
Following reflection, Tsai said she would readjust her policies on the issues covered by the referendums and reshuffle her government.
“Tomorrow [today], the DPP will choose its interim chairperson. It will also elect a new leader as soon as possible to lead the DPP in the next phase,” she said.
The DPP would bear in mind all the criticism Kaohsiung residents have voiced and humbly listen to their opinions, Chen said.
Despite his defeat, Chen said he still loves his hometown and believes in democracy and the progressive values upheld by its residents.
Earlier yesterday, Tsai wrote on Facebook that reflection should not be done by shutting oneself in a room, but rather should be acted on so that the DPP can regroup and start again.
As Taiwanese have expressed their discontent with the ruling party through their ballots, she must humbly listen to their opinions, Tsai said.
“Starting today, I will begin a series of events and go to the front lines to listen to your opinions,” she added.
Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), a DPP member who was re-elected on Saturday, yesterday said that he told Tsai on Monday that she needed to reshuffle not only the party, but also the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan.
The DPP should make drastic changes to respond to the public’s discontent with the party, and not just reflect on its campaign strategies and carry out party reform, Cheng said.
It is the only way the DPP can regain the public’s trust, he said.
Additional reporting by Wei Ching-yun
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
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS