President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her main challenger, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), were out on the campaign trail yesterday, with Tsai rallying the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) faithful and others in New Taipei City, while Han made appeals to his city’s residents.
Tsai urged members of the public to support her re-election bid as she opened the New Taipei City headquarters for her campaign in Banciao District (板橋).
She has delivered on her 2016 election campaign promises to protect the nation’s sovereignty, improve the economy and take care of children and the elderly, she said.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
New Taipei City has a special significance to her, as the experience she gained running for mayor in the 2010 elections helped transform her from an academic to a politician, and gave her a better understanding of the public, Tsai said.
“I would not be who I am today if it had not been for New Taipei City,” she said, adding that she is grateful to it.
As the largest special municipality in Taiwan, New Taipei City plays a key role in every direct presidential election, she said.
Photo: CNA
Then-Taipei county became the special municipality of New Taipei City on Dec. 25, 2010, and the nation’s most populous city.
Whether the DPP can retain a legislative majority in the Jan. 11 elections would depend to a great extent on the number of legislator-at-large seats it secures, she said.
Its at-large nominees all firmly believe in protecting the nation’s democracy and promoting progressive values, she said, adding that none of them has attended an address by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on a visit to China.
Every one of the at-large seats would bring additional momentum to the party’s efforts to promote reforms, she said.
If the DPP can win New Taipei City, it would be able to win in the overall elections, she said.
Taiwanese made the correct decision in the 2016 presidential election to vote for the DPP, and the party has never compromised on Taiwan’s sovereignty since then, she said.
Voting for the DPP next month would ensure the nation’s freedom and democracy, Tsai said.
In Kaohsiung, Han told a rally with the KMT’s local legislative candidates that he would take better care of the public if elected president, and that he has been working very hard toward the goal of creating a better future for younger generations.
As president, he would boost the economy to improve the nation’s education system and care for the disadvantaged and he would protect the Republic of China’s sovereignty better than the DPP, Han said.
During his recent 40-day “listening to the Earth” tour of the nation, he had noticed that many Taiwanese are sad and poor, he said.
About 40,000 local companies are estimated to have shut down this year alone, and if each had 10 employees, at least 400,000 people lost their jobs, he said.
“That is not the way things used to be in Taiwan,” he said.
The Tsai administration has lied about the amount of money Taiwanese firms are investing in the nation, he said, as he urged voters to oppose “the incompetent DPP and its deceitful administration,” and support the KMT.
Next month’s elections would be an opportunity to show the world that a president can come from Kaohsiung and for the KMT to regain a legislative majority, he said.
Additional reporting by Tsai Ching-hua
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