As Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) presidential election campaign trip took her to areas with heavy Hakka populations in northern Taiwan yesterday, the party said it feels that it has never had as good an opportunity as this year to make strides in securing Hakka votes in the election.
One of the main reasons for that confidence is that, unlike previous standard-bearers, Tsai is of Hakka descent.
Tsai said yesterday in Hsinchu, one of the three main Hakka constituencies in northern Taiwan, along with Miaoli and Taoyuan, that her party planned to promote the Hakka language and eventually designate it as one of the national languages if she were elected president in January.
Photo: Wang Chin-yi, Taipei Times
Her 11-day campaign trip along the west coast was approaching Taipei, where the trip will draw to a close today.
“After a successful campaign in southern Taiwan, people said that I would receive a lukewarm welcome as the group traveled northward, but I haven’t felt that,” Tsai told supporters on a campaign stop at Jhongli (中壢), Taoyuan County.
Hakka are the second-largest ethnic group in Taiwan behind Hoklo. According to a Council of Hakka Affairs survey, 18.1 percent of the nation’s 23 million nationals, or 4.2 million people, are of Hakka descent.
In past elections, most Hakka in northern Taiwan favored the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). A recent DPP survey shows that it trails by about 10 percent among Hakka voters in that region.
While Hakka communities in southern Taiwan’s Pingtung and Kaohsiung gave Tsai and her running mate Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) a warm welcome last week because the pair hail from Pingtung, the DPP understood that winning Hakka votes in the north would be a tall order.
Tsai said that the DPP has long been seen as a party dominated by Hoklo people, which was why it has not been successful in Hakka constituencies in the past.
However, that was probably a wrong perception, because Hoklo people and the DPP neither ignore nor discriminate against the Hakka, Tsai said.
Speaking in Hsinchu yesterday, Tsai said the Council of Hakka Affairs and the Hakka TV Service were both founded between 2000 and 2008, when the DPP was in power. The DPP administration also helped several universities establish Colleges of Hakka Studies, she added.
Being a Hakka, Tsai said she would like to do more to promote the Hakka language and culture as well as improving infrastructure in Hakka constituencies.
Earlier in Miaoli, she talked about reviving local economies by developing industries with local characteristics, such as wood carving. In Hsinchu, she pledged to make the region, which is already known as Taiwan’s Silicon Valley, the technology capitol of Taiwan by expanding the size and diversity of the Hsinchu Science Park.
Although Tsai does not speak fluent Hakka, Hakka people seemed to see her as one of their own, DPP legislative candidate Yang Yiong Cong-ziin (楊長鎮) said.
“It appeared that Hakka women — young and old — felt that they could identify with Tsai and they believe in her, and maybe that could make a difference in the election,” said a Tsai campaign adviser, who wished to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.
The DPP see the Hakka constituencies as important battlegrounds, with former Hsinchu County commissioner Lin Kwang-hua (林光華), a Hakka, saying that Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli could be the deciding electoral region of January’s presidential election, despite widespread belief that central Taiwan would be the game-changer.
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
EVA Airways on Saturday said that it had suspended a pilot and opened an investigation after he allegedly lost his temper and punched the first officer several times as their plane was taxiing before takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport. According to a report published on Thursday by The Reporter, the incident occurred after the flight’s Malaysian first officer tried to warn the Taiwanese pilot, surnamed Wen (文), that he was taxiing faster than the speed limit of 30 knots (55.6kph). After alerting the pilot several times without response, the first officer manually applied the brakes in accordance with standard operating
The New Taipei City Social Welfare Department on Thursday celebrated Paralympic competitor Chen Tzu-wei (張孜維), who received last year’s national Golden Eagle award for exemplary achievement by Taiwanese with disabilities. Chen, who suffers from childhood-onset muscular dystrophy, did not attend the first award ceremony held by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in November due to illness. Chen was formally presented with the award at the department, where he gave thanks to government workers for supporting his education and livelihood, the department said in a statement. Chen was raised by the Ai-hsin Home for Persons with Disabilities in the city’s Bali District (八里)
RSS