The campaign office of beaten Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) began packing up yesterday, but neither Lien nor his campaign manager, KMT Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元), have been seen since Lien’s concession speech on Saturday.
Independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) won the race with 57.16 percent of the votes, topping Lien, who garnered 40.82 percent of ballots.
While most pundits thought Tsai originated several negative campaign tactics that are thought to have been a top factor in Lien’s loss, a Lien campaign official yesterday said that the strategy originated with Lien’s father, former vice president and former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰).
The official, who wished to remain anonymous, said that surveys conducted for internal use only suggested that Sean Lien would lose to Ko by just 10 percent.
“We expected we would lose the election; we just did not expect to lose by this wide a margin,” the official said.
As for the negative strategy, the official said that Tsai was asked to manage the campaign because of his hawkish reputation. However, Tsai did not have the weight to affect overall campaign strategy, the official added.
For example, KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) — after finding a particular smear had little effect — tried to stifle allegations that Ko laundered money through a National Taiwan University Hospital account, the official said, adding that Lien Chan had pulled her aside for a talk, after which the allegations continued.
The official said the campaign office later realized the harm that the negative campaigning caused and asked the former head of its promotional division, You Tzu-hsiang (游梓翔) — who was against the tactics — to return in hopes of limiting the fallout.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
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