Former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) conceded defeat in the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential primary yesterday and urged his followers to support DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who won the race by a slim margin.
“I humbly accept the result and I strongly hope the party can be united and fully support Tsai,” Su somberly told a press conference, which was held shortly after the poll result was released showing Tsai won by 1.35 percentage points.
“The 2012 presidential election will be a tough battle,” Su said. “The people that support me and support Taiwan should come together for Tsai and for the DPP. Let’s see Taiwan once again change its political landscape to let Taiwan have a bit more dignity, fairness and happiness.”
Photo: CNA
“Our goal is to give Taiwan greater dignity, make our society more just and build a country in which all Taiwanese can live happily,” he added.
Sources from both campaigns confirmed that Su made a phone call to Tsai offering his congratulations shortly after the poll result was announced.
A Su aide said his camp had not yet discussed details on how they would assist Tsai’s campaign, adding that both sides would discuss the matters in the coming days.
Sources at Tsai’s campaign revealed that Tsai would go on a “goodwill” trip to meet with senior party leaders as well as Su and former DPP chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良), who trailed the two frontrunners, likely before May 4.
Avoiding damaging party splits, especially among Su’s and Tsai’s supporters, was a critical task which Tsai addressed in her speech yesterday.
“Hsu, Su and I all represent the DPP, a multicultural, democratic and progressive party,” Tsai said. “The primaries aren’t about the success of any one person, but represent a step forward for the entire party.”
“This first step is the start of a greater responsibility and a willingness to take on a difficult [journey]. Nobody can complete this alone,” she added.
Tsai also made reference to a recurring theme during her primary campaign, tying herself with the resurgence of the DPP after she first took the helm in 2008, after the party lost both the presidential and legislative elections.
“The reason the DPP was able to pick itself up and start over again in the past three years was because of unity,” she said. “In the time I have led the DPP, there has been no factionalism among management and staff.”
Maintaining unity will be a major focus of her campaign, and there is expected to be a major shake-up of personnel and resources.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG AND CNA
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern
RSS