Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said remarks made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) — who said an election win for Tsai would harm agricultural exports — were “disappointing,” urging him to do more than just scare people.
“The KMT presidential candidate is unable to show his party’s achievements from good governance [in the past seven years], or to present complete and constructive planning for the economy and industries. Instead [Chu] only continuously plays the ‘threat’ card,” Tsai told reporters during a campaign outing in Changhua County.
“The people of Taiwan would be disappointed,” she said.
Photo: Chang Tsung-chiu, Taipei Times
Instead of making threats, Chu should brainstorm what he could do to improve the competitiveness of the agricultural sector in the international market, Tsai added.
The DPP, unlike the KMT, has a complete set of planning that covers exploring new markets, as well as enhanced management and planting for the agricultural sector, which could help it find more opportunities, Tsai said.
On Saturday, Chu said that during the DPP administration of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the government was “unfriendly” toward local farmers’ and fishermen’s associations by taking over the credit departments of 36 such organizations, making it difficult for the associations to expand their businesses.
Tsai said the credit departments were taken over by the government at the time because they were suffering from bad debts and excess loans, pushing them to the edge of collapse.
Tsai defended DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) in the face of accusations by New Taipei City prosecutor Huang Meng-shan (黃孟珊) that Tuan had tried to interfere in a case by pressuring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to add dehydrated gypsum to a list of permitted food additives after a food manufacturer was indicted for using the substance in its products.
Tuan denied the allegation, saying that he merely helped the food manufacturer to petition the FDA, as dehydrated gypsum is a legal food additive in many other countries.
“Tuan has explained the incident clearly, what he has done is what a lawmaker should do, and he is now preparing to file a lawsuit over the allegations,” Tsai said.
“He is handling the situation in a responsible way,” she said.
Tsai denied a report by the Chinese-language China Times that the DPP has lowered its expected number of legislative seats in constituencies in northern Taiwan after Chu joined the presidential race.
“The rumor is inaccurate,” Tsai said. “The election campaign as a whole has been stable for us and we are campaigning according to our original plans.”
“Our rival is making up stories,” she added.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS