While New Party presidential candidate Li Ao (
In what he said "could be his farewell speech," Li urged supporters to back independent James Soong (宋楚瑜), saying he was the least harmful of the three leading contenders.
Li has held around 1 percent of public approval ratings through the duration of the race and refused to join the party he was running for.
"When I'm dead, you'll miss me, miss me, miss me," he said.
Li dealt a few parting shots yesterday, comparing himself to a "tampon" who had been used by the political establishment.
"There's a joke about a man who got a magic lamp with a genie inside and made three wishes. His first wish was to live in a palace, and suddenly he was living in a fabulous mansion. His second wish was to have piles of gold, and the genie granted it. His third wish was to spend the rest of his life between a woman's legs. The genie turned him into a tampon," he said.
Colorful rhetoric laced with vulgarity has consistently been a part of Li's campaign. His official platform as listed at the Central Election Commission reads: "Taiwan gets an erection, makes advances toward China, then `Viagras' the whole world."
In his speech yesterday, he advocated that Taiwan unite with China under the "one country, two systems" model so that Taiwan would have a place to send its nuclear waste.
Independent Hsu, formerly a chairman of the DPP, promoted his ticket as a "fourth choice" unbound by constrictions of party or ethnic origin. His running mate, Josephine Chu (朱惠良), is of mainland origin and a former member of the New Party.
The three main contenders remain bound by "19th century thinking about the meaning of nation-states," he said.
"If on March 18 voters continue to vote for candidates with old-fashioned ideas, then Taiwan is really in trouble," Hsu said.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS