Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) camp yesterday dismissed complaints that he has not been campaigning aggressively enough for his party's legislative candidates.
Former DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun, who heads the DPP electoral campaign, said on Wednesday some pro-independence groups had told him that the party's internal relations between the legislative elections next week and the presidential poll in March should be like that between a hen and its chicks.
However, they told Yu, the hen -- referring to Hsieh -- was too busy, so they didn't have much choice but to ask the rooster -- President Chen Shui-bian (
PHOTO: LIAO CHENG-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Hsieh spokesman Chao Tien-lin (
"It proves the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] is anxious about the elections and came up with this kind of scheme to split the DPP," he said.
Chao said many DPP members realized that while Chen and Hsieh used different campaigning tactics, they both worked toward the same goal, which is to secure a majority in the legislature.
Among the 73 constituencies, Chao said, Hsieh has visited 71, some of them quite frequently.
While Hsieh's electioneering effort focuses on the legislative candidates themselves, KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
Hsieh's running mate, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), yesterday said it was part of Hsieh's campaign strategy to work in cooperation with Chen and himself to promote the party's legislative candidates, adding that Hsieh followed his own pace.
In another development, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (
The DPP carried an advertisement in several Chinese-language newspapers yesterday featuring a wanted poster for Wu and Ma, portraying them as heads of a ring of swindlers selling out the country's democracy by urging voters not to cast referendum ballots.
The ad called on voters to support the DPP.
"The KMT refuses to cast referendum ballots in order to simplify the election process. I call on President Chen not to play dirty tricks," Wu said yesterday while campaigning for KMT legislators in Kaohsiung City. "I dare Chen to declare martial law and bring me and Ma to justice under military rule."
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
RSS