Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-cheng (蘇貞昌) yesterday held separate meetings with directors of local party chapters to prepare for the year-end local government elections.
Lu's action, however, triggered speculation that she plans to strengthen her own power and support among local constituencies since the responsibility for organizing the year-end elections falls to Su, not her.
Dismissing the speculation, the Vice President's Office later yesterday issued a statement, saying that Lu is a member of the DPP's campaign team for the year-end elections and it is therefore also her responsibility to meet the directors of local party chapters and hear local views.
DPP Secretary-General Lee Yi-yang (
"Each DPP member's effort and care has been key to the DPP's victories in past elections," Lee said. "The speculation is groundless and there's no problem of Lu undermining Su's authority."
Lu invited the directors of local DPP chapters to a luncheon at noon at the Presidential Office to discuss the year-end polls.
During the luncheon, Lu encouraged local party leaders to seek voters' support "door-to-door with sincerity."
Candidates for county commissioners and councilors should raise "original platforms," Chen O-po (
"Vice President Lu also said she would be happy to campaign for candidates in each constituency as long as the candidates invite her," Chen said.
Lu asked those at the luncheon not to pay too much attention to the 2008 presidential elections and instead spend more time on the local elections.
Later in the afternoon, the luncheon group went to the DPP's headquarters for a meeting with Su.
Su urged them take a down-to-earth approach and be united in their election strategies. He said it is meaningless to argue over who will be the most likely candidate for the 2008 presidential campaign at this moment.
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:
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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