Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Lin I-hsiung (林義雄), who had been staying out of the limelight, came forward yesterday to endorse the party's Taipei and Kaohsiung candidates.
Although he withdrew from the DPP earlier this year, Lin said that the party remains the best choice and most progressive political party in the country.
"I step forward and endorse Hsieh because I affirm and recognize his efforts as former Kaohsiung mayor and premier," Lin said, while accompanying Hsieh at a campaign event yesterday in Shilin District.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, AP
Lin, one of his party's most respected elders, said he has been friends with Hsieh and the DPP's Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chu (
He said he "would extend a hand to express solidarity."
Lin will also campaign for Chen Chu in Kaohsiung, starting today.
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen Chu campaign chief executive officer Chen Chi-mai (
"There are not many things that can touch people's heart now given recent political upheaval, but Lin's support for Hsieh will definitely touch many people's heart," former DPP legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) said.
Fearing pan-green voters may be lukewarm about casting ballots in Saturday's elections because of recent political scandals, the DPP yesterday urged supporters to vote for its mayoral candidates.
DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and Central Standing Committee mem-bers also reached a resolution in yesterday's meeting that the party would start a telephone campaign to its supporters in a bid to encourage them to vote.
Yu said he would resign as chairman if the party "fails" in the elections.
Several members of the party's former New Tide faction yesterday also urged independent voters to support the DPP's Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral candidates.
Former DPP legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) told a press conference that they would like to remind Taiwan's rational citizens that only when citizens continue participating in elections and politics can the nation's democracy develop in the right direction.
"It is citizens' unshirkable responsibility to care about public affairs and cast the vote after careful thinking," he said. "It is citizens who will ultimately suffer if they try to punish [politicians or parties] by refusing to cast ballots."
He said recent opinion polls had shown that people were very dissatisfied with political parties and leaders, which should be a warning to the nation.
Lee said that he believed Hsieh and Chen are models for other politicians because they insist on DPP's core values and stand for reform and progress.
"They should not be defeated in the elections only because negative campaigning reigned during the elections and rational citizens were discouraged from casting their votes," Lee said. "This would be a pity and unfair."
"It will be a good thing for the DPP if good and right people are elected," he said.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS