Supporters of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gathered outside the party's campaign headquarters in Taipei yesterday afternoon and watched as vote tallies were displayed on television screens.
Some supporters broke down in tears when they saw the disappointing results.
A Taiwanese woman surnamed Lin, who lives in Japan, said she cried when she realized that the DPP was going to lose the election.
PHOTO: HSIEH FUNG-CHIU, TAIPEI TIMES
"I am really upset," she said. "People in Taiwan seem to only care about short-term interests and some are willing to sell themselves for that."
Lin said she was concerned about Taiwan's future, and especially the plight of the middle and working class.
CHINA THREAT
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
"Once [the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)] is in power, it will allow Chinese laborers to come and take all the jobs," she said.
Twenty-one-year-old Miss Huang and 28-year-old Miss Tsai, both volunteer DPP campaign workers, were in tears. Given the result of the 2004 election, they said they had not expected the margin of defeat to be so great.
Huang said that voters did not understand the serious consequences of a single party controlling both the presidential office and the legislature. She said she was concerned that the nation could return to something like the White Terror era.
Tsai said she did not want Taiwan to become a second Tibet.
Devin Huang (黃東漢), a college student from Taoyuan, said the DPP had fought bravely with limited resources against a strong rival.
He also said that a majority of the voters did not dislike the DPP, but were using the election as an opportunity to express their dissatisfaction with President Chen Shui-bian (
ECONOMY
Regarding his expectations for president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (
He added that it was unfair that some overseas Taiwanese got to fly in to vote and leave the next day. Devin Huang said the electoral system should be overhauled.
A 65-year-old retired man surnamed Shih said he did not feel particularly sad about the result of the election, although he had only expected the KMT to win by a margin of between 3 and 5 percentage points.
"They [the KMT] surely have plenty of money to buy votes," he said.
Shih also said that neither of the presidential candidates could solve the China problem, adding that a resolution depended on China itself.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS