More than 25,000 overseas Taiwanese supporting President Chen Shui-bian's (
Wu Li-pei (
Speaking at the Democratic Progressive Party's headquarters yesterday, Wu, also the chairman of the Los Angeles-based Formosa Foundation, said the reason for the increase in the number of Taiwanese expatriates returning home to vote is because they are anxious about the upcoming poll and feel the election signifies whether Taiwan's local power can take root or face the consequence of undermining Taiwan's independent sovereignty.
"We feel it is utterly urgent to re-elect Chen, because if he loses, Taiwan will probably not be able to choose its own president anymore, but will have to accept an appointed chief of the special administrative zone, like that of Hong Kong," Wu said.
"China is getting more and more powerful, and it's hard to predict what will happen in the future," Wu added.
Accompanied by other campaign representatives from Canada, Japan, Latin America and Australia in the press conference, Wu said around 5,000 overseas Taiwanese have returned home to volunteer in the campaign activities island-wide for Chen, and the Global A-bian Family has already produced two campaign TV commercials broadcasting in local TV channels to stump for Chen.
Wu said "originally we thought all we needed to do was to continue campaigning for Chen abroad after his victory in 2000. However, this time we found the opponents are ambitious to bring back authoritarianism to our democratic society."
"Therefore, we feel obligated to come back and support Taiwan's democratic development and to protect Taiwan's independent sovereignty from being undermined by China," Wu said.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
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