Taiwan will hold three televised debates ahead of the Jan. 14 presidential election, with two for presidential candidates and one for vice presidential nominees.
The debates will take place on Dec. 3, Dec. 10 and Dec. 17, and will be hosted by the Central News Agency and five other media outlets — Public Television Service (PTS), the China Times, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), the United Daily News and the Apple Daily.
Candidates representing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and People First Party (PFP) will all take part in the debates. The first televised presidential and vice presidential debates will take place from 2pm to 4:30pm on Dec. 3 and Dec. 10 respectively on PTS, and they will be moderated by the organizing media outlets. The second presidential debate, to be held at the same time on Dec. 17, will be moderated by representatives of non-governmental organizations.
Following each debate, the three parties will hold separate press conferences at the television station for both domestic and foreign media.
Unlike in 2004 and 2008, the debates this year will include vice presidential candidates and they will be held over three consecutive weeks for the first time to allow each ticket to fully convey its views and explain its policies ahead of the Jan. 14 poll.
The debates will be broadcast live on PTS and the station’s HiHD (high-definition) channel. The station will also supply the debate to radio, the Internet and other TV channels free of charge.
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