The “disappearance” from the public eye of Peoples First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) running mate, Lin Ruey-shiung (林瑞雄), since Tuesday stems from efforts by the party to give Lin a crash course on the political set-up of the PFP, sources said.
With barely 24 hours between being declared Soong’s potential running mate and his first press conference, Lin’s casual dress and rigid answers on political issues at the press conference raised doubts over his political acumen.
This showed that Lin needed a crash course on political issues, the sources said, pointing to his bungled response to a question on whether he would participate in the election even if Soong failed to collect 1 million signatures as he vowed to do in order to join the presidential race.
Internet screen grab
Although Soong chose to remain vague on the matter, Lin took over the microphone and said that if those signatures were not obtained, he would not participate in the election.
PFP officials said on Saturday that aside from managing some personal matters and applying to give up his US citizenship, Lin needed some time to compose himself.
The political arena is foreign to him, PFP officials said.
“He’s suddenly on the election frontline and he doesn’t know what to say,” the officials said. “If he says the wrong thing, then it’s even worse.”
PFP spokesman Wu Kun-yu (吳崑玉) also said on Saturday that for the past two days Lin was taking in a lot of information, including what is said in newspapers, understanding the content of Soong’s recent talks, the ideals of the PFP, the “Second Silent Revolution” thought pattern and the “insides” of the political world.
All of this will prepare him for future talks in public and with the media, Wu said.
The “Second Silent Revolution” is a concept brought up by Soong that calls for thorough reforms to the system of democratic governance adopted by Taiwan.
PFP spokesperson Lee Tung-hao (李桐豪) said Lin has been on the move for the past two days, getting pictures taken for the campaign ads, visiting party headquarters, as well as showing up at some small events to explain his views on Taiwan’s future and development.
With limited campaign resources and because Soong wanted a different kind of election, the PFP’s election campaign would not be the same as before, Wu said, adding that they would not necessarily flight commercial film ads or distribute pamphlets.
“We will look for the proper time to share our ideals with the public and we will try to have in-depth dialogue with the various sectors, through petition-signing events and other talks and policy-explanation events, before Lin and Soong register as candidates,” Wu said.
“The PFP does not have the money to hold campaign events and even if we did, we would not,” Wu said.
Netizen supporters of Soong have placed his profile picture over the original face on the Seediq Bale promotional poster, hoping to spread word of Soong’s petition efforts.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS