President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that using public opinion polls for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential primary would damage party unity, adding that the party needs to be united to defend Taiwan’s democracy.
Tsai, who is seeking re-election, is facing a major challenge from former premier William Lai (賴清德) in the party primary.
The DPP Central Executive Committee on Friday last week postponed the presidential primary, which was originally scheduled on Wednesday, to May 22 in hopes of resolving the differences between Tsai and Lai through mediation.
Photo: Chang Yi-chen, Taipei Times
Some political watchers have said that the delay would stack the deck in Tsai’s favor.
“The DPP has only one option, which is unity; one plus one is absolutely greater than two,” Tsai said after visiting temples in Yilan County’s Nanfangao Township (南方澳).
“Many people have said that public opinion polls would be a more democratic mechanism,” Tsai said, adding that she was confident about winning in polls.
However, “if we continue polling, divisions will split the party, because competition brings attacks, which are harmful to unity,” she said.
The nation should not envy Hong Kong for its economy, as many Hong Kongers have fled to Taiwan because democracy is deteriorating in the territory, Tsai said.
“Certain people” are promoting a slanted focus on the economy at the expense of democracy, she added.
“Without sovereignty, there would be no freedom … and Taiwan cannot be defended without unified support for the DPP,” Tsai said. “Unity is the only chance [for the DPP] to win the election, without which there would be no democratic Taiwan.”
“There are many procedures in a primary and I hope the one that maximizes unity would be the one chosen,” she added.
Asked for comments about Tsai’s remarks, Lai told reporters that any potential DPP nominee owes it to the public to explain their policies and platform.
“My candidacy is not about negating the past; instead, it is about fighting for an opportunity to take the torch to be responsible for Taiwan,” he said. “I very much hope that the nation would support my candidacy to represent the DPP in a presidential election that we will win.”
Lai added that the DPP primary is an institution that the party is rightfully proud of and it has many imitators.
“We should cherish the democratic institution and have faith that when conducted in a sporting manner, a primary will help unify the party,” he said.
In related news, Tsai said in an interview yesterday with GreenPeace Broadcasting station that, without democracy, the nation would slide backward.
She was responding to questions about Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) comments on prioritizing the economy over democracy.
Gou on Wednesday announced his intention to compete in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential primary.
Tsai said that the nation’s leader should be a person who has the diplomatic skills to garner international support in the face of intensifying pressure from China, as she has done.
Next year’s presidential election would be a watershed moment when Taiwanese decide whether they want to maintain the status of an independent and sovereign country or embark on the road to unification with China, she said.
Aside from securing international support, such as security assistance, Taiwan’s leader must continue to strengthen national defense., as China will only deal with the cross-strait situation in a peaceful manner if Taiwan has the capacity to defend itself.
Only a strong defense capacity can guarantee peace, Tsai said.
Additional reporting by CNA
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater