Since the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) only nominated two candidates so far to run in the year-end elections, TSU Chairman Shu Chin-chiang (
The TSU yesterday held an education seminar, attended by 52 possible candidates, on campaigning strategies for the year-end elections. The party's spiritual leader, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), arrived at the venue in the late afternoon to encourage the candidates to work hard for victory in the "life-and-death" elections.
The TSU has been "declaring war" against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) over the past two months and vowed to spoil the DPP's election outcome with surplus nominations. However, owing to its fledgling local network and lack of adequate candidates, the TSU has only nominated two candidates so far in the commissioner and mayoral elections -- former party secretary-general Chen Chien-ming (
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Forty-eight candidates will run for seats on city and county councils and two will run for local township chief positions.
Shu, who originally planned to campaign in the Yunlin County Commissioner election but withdrew from the race, said that he decided to stand back because he has to pay attention to the overall election condition as the party's campaign commander.
After visiting local party chapters around the country, Shu said that he found most of the people living in south Taiwan are generally unsatisfied with their local governments' infrastructure and economic policies. "Therefore, the TSU candidates here have to be attentive to voters' needs and respond to their wishes in terms of these aspects," Shu told the nominees.
He also encouraged candidates to highlight issues affecting people's livelihoods as their election platforms. He said that the TSU will arrange for Lee to campaign for all the party's candidates -- his health permitting.
"We will let the people of Taiwan realize that the TSU is still growing strong and sturdy and is not yet dying out, as some media have been suggesting," Shu said. "These elections will be an important foundation for the legislative elections in 2007 and we have to stand out."
Compared to the ruling DPP, Shu said that the TSU seemed to have "disappeared from the scene" and enjoyed little media coverage.
He said, however, that this could be because DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (
Meanwhile, Lee told the candidates that there is only one secret for success in the election -- "hard work."
"Voters will recognize your efforts if you show them your real passion and ambition," he said.
Lee also said that if the TSU performs well in the year-end elections, the party will nominate its candidates for the Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections in 2006 to challenge the DPP.
SPEEDING ELETRIC VEHICLES: Available without license requirements, the low-cost vehicles, especially if illicitly modified, can often reach a dangerous speed The government should crack down on illegal electric bicycles and scooters, the non-profit Consumers’ Foundation said on Friday, citing research on the potentially dangerous speed of the vehicles. Electric bicycles and lightweight electric scooters have gained popularity as they do not require registration and riders do not need licenses, the foundation said, adding that as many as 40 percent of them can reach speeds exceeding the legal limit of 25kph for non-licensed two-wheelers. Some consumers also purchased legal electric vehicles and modified them to reach higher speeds, it said. “If the government does not step up efforts to confiscate these
‘RELIABLE PARTNER’: US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar praised the ‘Taiwan model,’ saying that the nation brought its spirit to its COVID-19 response The first memorandum of understanding (MOU) on health cooperation between the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the US Department of Health and Human Services was yesterday signed at the Centers for Disease Control in Taipei. The memorandum was signed between the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US, by AIT Director Brent Christensen and Taiwan Council for US Affairs Chairperson Jen-ni Yang (楊珍妮). US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) witnessed the signing of the memorandum, designed to enhance the nations’
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday tweeted a welcome to Somaliland’s first representative to Taiwan, Mohamed Omar Hagi Mohamoud, who arrived on Friday. Mohamoud had “braved Chinese pressure” to take up his new post, Wu wrote. “The fact ‘sovereignty & friendship aren’t for sale’ deserves international recognition,” referring to a Somaliland media report earlier this month that Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi had rejected an offer by the Chinese government in exchange for ending its rapprochement with Taiwan. Wu also thanked the US National Security Council (NSC) for praising Taiwan-Somaliland ties. A council tweet on July 10 praised Taiwan
The Taipei City Government yesterday said that construction on the long-suspended Taipei Dome can resume immediately, after it approved a request by the project’s main contractor, Farglory Group. In a statement, the Taipei Construction Management Office said that after it on July 16 issued a new building permit, Farglory submitted revised design plans and an application to resume construction, which the office approved on Friday. Construction had been suspended on the dome, near the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Xinyi District (信義), for more than five years due to disagreements between the city and the company over the safety of some of
RSS