President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday attended Veterans’ Day celebrations to consolidate support from veterans’ groups while promoting the indivisibility of Taiwan and the Republic of China (ROC).
Meeting with several hundred veterans attending celebrations in Taipei, Ma, who is seeking re-election in January, applauded the contributions made by veterans to “retrocession” and the development and protection of Taiwan. He also praised veterans for their great patriotism.
“We are all Taiwanese and we all love the ROC. As I mentioned before, the ROC is our nation and Taiwan is our home. Taiwan and the ROC are inseparable and we should not allow anyone to create artificial conflict between the two,” he said yesterday at Taipei City Hall plaza.
With recent polls suggesting that the race between Ma and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is too close to call, Ma yesterday stumped in Greater Taichung and Greater Tainan.
Ma and his running mate, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), attended the official opening of their campaign headquarters in Greater Tainan yesterday, expressing confidence that their support in the South was growing, while calling for pan-blue unity amid concerns about a split in the vote if People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) officially declares he will run for the presidency.
“We have spent more on transportation infrastructure in Tainan than the former DPP administration, which shows that we have more faith in the development of the city than the former president who is a Tainan native,” Ma said when speaking at the official opening.
If re-elected on Jan. 14, Ma promised to ensure that national development would be more balanced, dedicating more resources to the development of southern cities.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative candidates in Tainan and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) attended the ceremony to campaign for Ma. However, former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), was a no-show at the rally despite being scheduled to attend.
KMT Women’s Department director Chen Yu-mei (陳玉梅) said that as election day grows nearer the party would invite first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) and Wu’s wife Tsai Ling-yi (蔡令怡) to play a more active role in the election campaign and solicit supports from female voters.
Tsai Ling-yi yesterday accompanied KMT legislative candidate Rosa Chien (錢薇娟) as she canvassed streets in Lujhou (蘆洲), New Taipei City (新北市).
Ma’s re-election campaign office said the camp is organizing campaign activities for Chow, but said a detailed campaign schedule has yet to be finalized.
In an interview on Friday with the talk show Report to the Voters on CTV, Ma said his wife usually took part in election campaigns about 10 days before the elections, but said he would respect her decision when asked about the first lady’s participation.
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