Since being selected by national party congresses on March 30th as the party's presidential candidate for next March's presidential election, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has been diligently visiting grassroot supporters in southern Taiwan in a bid to court their attention and support.
One day after gaining approval from his national party congress as the party's presidential candidate, Lien showed up in Kaohsiung County for a whirlwind visit to several local townships. During the two-day visit, Lien was seen chatting with local residents, taking part in local festivities and visiting with township representatives.
On Tomb-sweeping Day last Saturday, Lien appeared in Tainan City, his hometown, to pay respects to his ancestors as well as to take the opportunity to visit with local academics during his two-day stay.
Yesterday, Lien again was seen in Kaohsiung County visiting with top local officials and agricultural association representatives.
Today, Lien will travel to Tainan County to eat with local officials, visit local temples and to take part in religious ceremonies, along with thousands of followers of Matsu (媽祖), goddess of the sea in Taoist belief, at the Tai-an Taoist Hal (泰安宮) on her annual blessing tour.
During his stay in Tainan County, Lien will also visit with local officials in Kuantien township -- hometown of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) -- to vie for their support in his presidential bid.
Taking a closer look at the result of the 2000 presidential election, it is understandable why Lien has chosen southern Taiwan to kick off his presidential campaign.
Chen won the 2000 presidential election with 39 percent of the vote. PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), who then ran as an independent, took 36 percent while Lien, the KMT's candidate, came in a distant third with 23 percent of the vote.
This time around, both Lien and Soong have pledged to join forces and field a joint ticket for the election.
"If we look at the last presidential election result, southern Taiwan is by no mean a stronghold of votes for the pan-blue camp," said Emile Sheng (盛治仁), a political science professor at Soochow University.
Echoing Sheng's remarks, professor of political science at National Taiwan University Ger Yeong-kuang (葛永光) said, "It is a fact that when you compare it to the pan-green camp, the pan-blue camp generally receives less support from southern Taiwan voters."
"So I think it is a very good idea that Lien is visiting the grassroots in southern Taiwan to raise his visibility and round up support for the pan-blue camp," Ger said, adding that Lien's efforts alone are not enough and the pan-blues will need to use their influence in the media and representatives in the south to gain more of a foothold there.
Although Soong was the candidate of choice in the last presidential election in northern, central and eastern regions and gained overwhelming victories in Taiwan's offshore islands, Chen was still able to land the election thanks to the great support he received in the south, where he won an absolute majority of ballots cast.
Chen outpolled Soong by large margins in southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Chiayi and Yunlin. Lien, on the other hand, did not take any cities or counties but was the runner-up in six counties, including Tainan, Chiayi, Pingtung, Taitung, Kinmen and Lienchiang.
Pointing out Soong's regional popularity in the last election, Ger said that it appears that the pan-blue camp is adopting a "division of labor" campaign strategy in the run up to the 2004 race.
"Lien and Soong are each trying to play their influences in areas where they can do best," Ger said.
"In other words, while Soong will likely focus on courting voters in northern, central and eastern Taiwan given his popularity in those area," Ger said, "Lien can play his influence in southern Taiwan to court local support."
It remains to be seen, however, whether or not Lien's effort can cross the Chuoshui River -- generally regarded as the dividing line between northern and southern Taiwan -- and break down Chen's southern stronghold next March.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater