The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been advised by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to reverse a recent slide in public opinion polls by becoming assertive and aggressive, which he said would help the party’s prospects of victory in next year’s presidential election.
“The struggle of DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in recent polls should serve as a warning about her campaign strategy,” Chen, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year jail sentence for corruption and money laundering, wrote in an article published yesterday.
In opinion polls conducted by the DPP, Tsai’s lead over her main opponent in January’s presidential election, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), slid from 7.5 percent in late April to 0.2 percent last month
Chen praised Tsai for attracting more support than Ma in the 30-to-39 age group, an unprecedented achievement for a DPP presidential candidate, her “nuclear-free homeland” policy and her plan to include a property transaction tax as part of a tax reform proposal.
“Being an agenda setter who is not afraid of controversy is the right thing to do,” Chen said, adding that Tsai’s campaign should organize large rallies throughout the nation to “heat up” the atmosphere of the presidential race.
Chen said Tsai is still capable of winning and the outcome of the January election would be similar to that of the 2004 presidential election, with the DPP losing by a small margin in the north, while winning big in the south.
The central part of the country would be the final battleground, Chen added.
Chen questioned People First Party Chairman James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) possible impact on the election, saying that Soong, whose popularity and support ratings have surged recently to a reported double-digit range, would eventually be marginalized if he declared himself a presidential candidate.
“If Soong’s impact is more of a threat to Tsai than Ma, as the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] says, then the KMT should have encouraged Soong to enter the race, not tried to dissuade him from running,” Chen said.
DPP spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the former president’s opinions were welcomed, without elaborating.
Tsai campaign plans to hold three large rallies in northern, central and southern Taiwan next month, as well as to celebrate the party’s anniversary.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS