What kind of headline-grabbing rhetoric can be expected from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) when he stumps for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative candidates this weekend?That's the question hovering over many people's minds.
Chen's aggressive campaigning over the past two weeks -- and the variety of subjects he has raised -- has not only left the pan-blue camp hard-pressed, but left some members of the pan-green camp struggling to keep up with him.
DPP legislative candidate Chang Ching-fang (張清芳), seeking a seat in Taipei County, has complained that "President Chen is running too fast" in term of throwing out campaign subjects in the run-up to the Dec. 11 polls.
Since hitting the campaign trail on Nov. 12, Chen, who doubles as the DPP's chairman, has grabbed center stage with issues ranging from setting up a Taiwan truth investigation committee to allegations of a "soft coup" attempted by the pan-blue camp to demanding the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) change its party emblem or else he would try to amend the National Emblem Law in order to allow the government to force the party to make the change.
His combativeness and ideas have stirred up heated discussion in the media and among voters.
When asked about grumbling within the DPP about Chen's pace in launching campaign topics, Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Su Tseng-chang (
"All issues thrown out by President Chen have gone through careful consideration and reflection," Su said.
"Although some people have said that Chen's pace is too quick for them to catch up, generally speaking, his moves are helpful to the [pan-green's] electoral outlook as a whole," Su said.
A majority of DPP members have given the thumbs up to Chen's rhetoric.
"I think the range of issues launched by President Chen are helpful to our electoral outlook," said DPP caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (
A quick review of recent news coverage of the campaign indicates the pan-green camp appears to have gained the upper hand in directing the campaign debate. Both the KMT and the People First Party (PFP) appear to be stuck in a defensive mode, reactive rather than pro-active.
Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine, said that the pan-blue camp only went on the offensive when KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) challenged Chen to have the DPP propose a referendum be held on the issue of unification or independence alongside the legislative polls.
"By introducing such an idea, the pan-blue camp hoped to gain territory and dominate the campaign discussion," Chin said. "Chen spiked the move with his reminder to Lien that it was the pan-blue camp who passed the so-called `bird-cage' Referendum Law (
Instead of scoring a point for the pan-blues, Lien's referendum remarks revealed his ignorance of the Referendum Law, Chin said.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises. Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS’s coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued last night. The reports were “inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter,” it said. The hotel said it received a refund request from a
RSS