The five Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) mayoral candidates stood together at a joint election rally in Taipei City yesterday, denying that they had been slow in launching their campaigns.
They all signed election pledges to stand up for Taiwan’s sovereignty, increase Taiwanese content in the education system, reduce unemployment, look after the poor and protect the environment.
“We will give the public the best living standard, if elected,” said DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is running in Sinbei City. “We should all work together to make the [DPP] the biggest creator of happiness for the public.”
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
She said DPP candidates could win all five seats up for grabs in Taipei, Sinbei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung cities, despite acknowledging the difficulties DPP candidate Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) would likely face in Taichung, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) stronghold.
Speaking prior to the event — the third in which all five candidates have participated — former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), the mayoral candidate for Taipei City, denied accusations that he had been “too relaxed” on the campaign trail.
In an interview with the Chinese-language United Daily News on Wednesday, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said his DPP competitor was running a very “relaxed campaign,” adding that Su had yet to unveil any major policies or election pledges.
Turning the tables, Su said a large share of his election activities were unpublicized and he called on the Taipei mayor to refrain from “personal attacks.”
“Residents of Taipei City want to see a high-class, respectful election campaign,” he told reporters.
About 400 supporters from pro-independence groups, teachers’ organizations and religious associations attended yesterday’s event.
World United Formosans for Independence chairman Ng Chiau-tong (黃昭堂) said the DPP represented the best chance of protecting Taiwan.
Ng, along with Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝), former Examination Yuan president Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文), Taiwan Presbyterian Church pastor Kao Chun-ming (高俊明) and a number of other pro-independence figures, later took the stage saying: “United to protect Taiwan, success in all five cities.”
The elections, scheduled for Nov. 27, will be the first for four of the special municipalities after Taipei County upgrades into Sinbei City, Taichung City and county merge into Greater Taichung, Tainan City and county merge into Greater Tainan and Kaohsiung City and county merge into Greater Kaohsiung.
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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