Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who has taken leave from her post as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson after announcing her bid to seek the presidency on Friday last week, received a boost yesterday as a group of about 400 academics petitioned their support for her presidential bid.
In a statement, the academics said Tsai is the best candidate to run in next year’s presidential election, citing her leadership qualities, calm temperament and expertise in foreign and cross-strait affairs.
Tsai, who appeared at an event hosted by the group and talked with the academics, said the DPP had disappointed many for failing to realize the good values it used to honor when it was in power.
Photo: Su Fu-nan, Taipei Times
After being voted out of office in 2008, however, the party has since engaged in introspection and reviews, Tsai said, adding that the party, in an effort to improve its performance and also to propose policies for Taiwan’s future, has under her leadership drawn up a 10-year political outline and set up think tanks.
Tsai was the second party heavyweight to throw her hat into the ring for the presidential nomination.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) announced her candidacy last month.
Photo: Yang Yi-min, Taipei Times
Former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has yet to announce his bid, though it was widely reported by local media that Su could do so as early as today.
When approached for comment on the academics’ support of Tsai, Su said he respected their choice to support her.
“Support from all sides is good. The most important support the DPP needs, however, is from the people,” he said in Yilan County. “Only then can the DPP return to power.”
The DPP’s nomination for its presidential candidate will be decided by a set of five telephone polls to be held between April 25 and April 29 and will announce its nominee on May 4.
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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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching