A photo opportunity with Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has drawn donations in the “millions of New Taiwan dollars,” her campaign spokesperson said yesterday.
Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said the response to a DPP activity to drive up small donations had been almost unprecedented, with officials fielding tens of thousands of inquiries over the weekend alone.
“We consequently decided to extend the deadline to midnight on Tuesday,” Hsu said, adding that the campaign was also part of a push to create more “Tsai Ing-wen fan clubs” around the country.
Any group of more than 10 people “who side with this piece of land called Taiwan” can create a fan club, Hsu said, in comments to reporters that seemed to indicate that small groups of supporters and small donations will form the backbone of Tsai’s campaign.
Hsu yesterday refused to list specific donation amounts received so far by the DPP candidate, but promised that a comprehensive list would be released soon.
Tsai has recently stepped up her campaign efforts, with an emphasis on funding. Her campaign has unveiled two new posters and a flyer targeting the wallets of supporters that Hsu said would be distributed at all future events.
The flyer says Tsai will focus on charity, the economy and the environment — major themes in her campaign.
“People that recognize those ideas are the supporters we are looking for,” Hsu said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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