President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday called on former premier William Lai (賴清德) to stop his supporters from launching attacks and prove himself a trustworthy politician, as competition between the two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members continued to escalate as they seek the DPP nomination for next year’s presidential election.
Tsai made the remarks while visiting the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) to celebrate the nation’s progress in space development, when asked by reporters to comment on Lai’s remarks on Saturday about her so-called “cyberarmy.”
As the second premier in Tsai’s administration from Sept. 8, 2017 to Jan. 14, Lai had voiced his support for Tsai to seek re-election, so when he registered for the party’s presidential primary on March 18, many people were caught off guard.
Photo: CNA
The DPP Central Standing Committee on Wednesday decided to postpone its opinion polls on candidates’ support rates from this month until the party’s legislative primary ends on May 22, sparking criticism that the change is designed to help Tsai, who has trailed Lai in such polls.
No DPP members had inquired about his intention to join the primary before a March 16 legislative by-election, Lai said on Saturday on the sidelines of an event in Tainan, adding that Tsai should stop her cyberarmy from attacking him.
“The number of people attacking me is much more than those criticizing him,” Tsai said yesterday.
If Lai took a closer look at the offensive messages, he would find himself acquainted with those attacking her, to a certain degree, Tsai said, as she urged Lai to restrain his supporters.
Many netizens express their support of her, but they are not a so-called “cyberarmy” paid to launch attacks, she said.
Asked if she would support Lai if he wins the primary, Tsai said that she is a DPP member as well as the president, and as president, there are some things she can do and some things she cannot.
“If Lai hopes to win support, he must prove himself to be supportable and trustworthy,” she said, reminding Lai that “honesty is the basic requirement for any politician serving as a national leader.”
Many Taiwanese firms that were operating in foreign countries have decided to return home, bringing in investments worth nearly NT$120 billion (US$3.9 billion), Tsai said, adding that foreign businesses are continuing to invest in Taiwan.
These phenomena reflect a confidence in Taiwan, and that the government’s policy is correct, she added.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS