The three aspiring vice presidents yesterday presented their campaign platforms at the first and only televised vice presidential policy presentation hosted by the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Like the first televised presidential presentation on Wednesday, last night’s event was conducted in three rounds, with each candidate given 10 minutes per round.
The order of presentation was decided by drawing lots, with former premier Simon Chang (張善政) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) going first, followed by former premier William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and former United Communications Group chairwoman Sandra Yu (余湘) of the People First Party (PFP).
Photo courtesy of Central Election Commission via CNA
Lai and Chang are experienced politicians, while Yu, dubbed the “advertisement godmother” of Taiwan by the media, is new to politics.
Chang described a DPP digital entrepreneurship plan as a “deviant” policy that “kicks young people [out of Taiwan]” and touted “10 major digital action plans” he and his running mate, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), have proposed that would include establishing a digital innovation committee as part of the Executive Yuan to promote digital education and the development of smart cities.
The DPP government has lied to voters by embellishing statistics, he said.
He initially hoped that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would lead the nation to a better future, but over the past two years he has seen the Tsai administration’s incompetence polarize the Taiwanese public, Chang said, adding that he finds it intolerable because of its blatant cronyism and nepotism.
A major reason he is running is that he hopes to establish a new environment for Taiwan, he said.
Digital technology is the key to economic transformation and ensuring people’s welfare, but the Tsai administration has failed to foster the development of innovative technologies, he added.
Lai said that “DPP” is not only an acronym for the party, but also for “democracy, peace and prosperity,” which are critical to the nation’s development.
He emphasized the importance of maintaining Taiwan’s democracy, cross-strait peace and economic prosperity.
Taiwanese love peace, but China has continued to threaten Taiwan with its military power and poaching of diplomatic allies, Lai said.
The KMT hopes to resolve issues with China through a peace deal, which would compromise Taiwan’s democracy, he said, adding that Taiwanese must stand united against China, which he described as a “bad neighbor.”
Tsai has made great strides in economic development and by 2030 Taiwan could become a “smart country,” where smart technology is incorporated into finance, education, healthcare, agriculture and manufacturing, he said, pledging to promote language education policies to turn Taiwan into a bilingual nation.
Yu said that at Wednesday’s presidential presentation, the DPP and KMT once against performed “a wonderful act filled with confusing statistics and political mudslinging, but no actual policies were presented.”
The nation’s two largest parties have gone to great lengths to marginalize the PFP, because it is the only party that accurately represents public opinion, Yu said, adding that the DPP has turned a blind eye to the pain and suffering of society over the past four years and its so-called reforms have been nothing but political purges against the KMT.
Yu described a DPP-proposed anti-infiltration bill as “a highly controversial, unthorough bill that tears apart and polarizes people,” urging the ruling party to halt discussion of the bill until the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 11.
She pledged better care for veterans and older farmers; to review pension reforms for military personnel, public servants and public schoolteachers; and to increase social housing for young people and the elderly to better implement housing justice.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS