Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is looking forward to arguably the most important weekend of her presidential campaign ahead of the following weekend’s election.
The DPP chairperson is scheduled to wrap up the last of three televised debates tonight, trying to leave a lasting impression with voters that she would be a better choice and is more prepared than her rivals — President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).
Tsai is expected to “get back to basics” in the debate, which means she is expected to talk about her social policies, rather than making attacks over scandals, Tsai’s senior aide Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓) said.
“That is the real Tsai Ing-wen. She doesn’t like surprise and she doesn’t like to surprise people. She is always pragmatic,” Lin said.
Tsai will try to boost her supporters’ morale and consolidate their support during her “Super Weekend,” with six large rallies planned in Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung tomorrow and in Changhua County’s Yuanlin (員林), Greater Taichung, New Taipei City and Taipei on Sunday.
The presidential candidate is scheduled to attend the rallies, which cover almost all the important constituencies on the west coast, within a span of about 30 hours.
Tsai, who began her final round-the-country trip two weeks before polling day, yesterday went canvassing on a jeep in Taipei, traditionally one of the DPP’s weakest constituencies, in the rain and with temperatures hovering at about 10oC, after meeting a group of supporters in the morning.
“Every vote counts in a closely contested election like this,” Tsai told hundreds of overseas Taiwanese supporters, including her sister, Tsai Ying-ju (蔡瀛如), who has returned from the US to vote, at her campaign headquarters in Banciao District (板橋), New Taipei City (新北市).
Tsai expressed gratitude to her overseas supporters who have returned from places such as the US, Canada, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, Australia and South Africa, saying that not only did their votes matter, but she also hoped they could “make a final push” for more votes before Jan. 14.
However, the number of overseas Taiwanese returning to vote this year is the lowest since 1996, when Taiwanese were allowed to vote for a president for the first time, according to the data released by the Central Election Commission yesterday.
Tsai was scheduled to attend rallies in Hsinchu City and Jhubei (竹北), Hsinchu County, last night.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS