The Tainan County commissioner race would be an easy victory for the DPP were it not for the fact that influential incumbent Mark Chen (陳唐山), has long felt resentment for the party's candidate, Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智), observers say.
"Chen will have a decisive influence on the race's outcome," said the county's former deputy commissioner, Lin Wen-ding (
Lin said opinion polls show that around 40 percent of eligible voters in the county have not yet decided how they will vote "and 20 percent of them are likely to vote for the candidate whom the commissioner supports.
"Any DPP candidate but Su, who Chen will never support, could easily win the race since the party has ruled the county for eight years and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) secured 53 percent of the county's votes in the last presidential election," Lin said.
Lin added he was not optimistic about the "presidential card" that he says Su is playing.
"Support for the president has not turned into a bonus for Su," he said.
The DPP regards the Tainan County contest as crucial to safeguarding the president's standing.
Su's campaign manager Yan Chwen-tzo (顏純左) said that county residents respect politicians who look after the county's interests or hail from the county itself. "As a native of the county, President Chen is without doubt the best possible campaigner for Su and will certainly bring in votes," Yan said.
Yan called for a united front by DPP supporters and urged Commissioner Chen to put aside his personal resentment of Su in order to fight the forces Yan said are trying to split the party.
Reiterating that Chen would never campaign for Su, Lin said that the best strategy for Su to employ would be to counter Chen's open support for the two other candidates -- Wei and the KMT's Wu Ching-chi (
Yan said that if Mark Chen supports Wei, the independent candidate's former colleagues in the DPP could come out in Wei's support.
Frustrated with media speculation, Chen's legislative campaign manager Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) responded by saying that "as a DPP member, Chen will certainly support the DPP candidate."
Moreover, the president on Sunday succeeded in persuading Chen's top advisor in previous campaigns, Wu Nan-ho (
The infighting between Su and Chen is to seen to be to Wu's advantage and could cost Su the election.
"Wu and Su are the two major competitors in the race," said John Shen (沈榮峰), the executive director of the KMT's Tainan chapter. Shen said that the KMT would not ignore Wei's campaign although he is currently a distant third.
Shen added that unlike previous KMT candidates, Wu was capable of attracting voters from all factions, saying, that he "has never been involved in local politics" and had no enemies.
People First Party Chairman James Soong (
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,