President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday reiterated her call for unity in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), saying that the party should work together to guarantee that the democratic process results in the “best outcome” for it.
Tsai, facing a challenge from former premier William Lai (賴清德) in the party’s primary for next year’s presidential election, made the comments on Facebook.
She said that as the president and a DPP member, she believes that a vast majority of party supporters care less about who wins the primary than maintaining party unity.
Photo: CNA
“Combining all our strength to support reform and to defend Taiwanese democracy is paramount,” she said. “The party should unite toward generating the best outcome through a democratic process for the presidential election next year.”
On Thursday, political pundit Brian Wu (吳祥輝) called Tsai “a political harlot” who had “sold out the party’s nominee” and “sided with the party’s opponent.”
Wu, who made the remarks without elaborating, had previously worked as an aide to former DPP legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智), who lost a bid to unseat Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) last year.
In response to Wu’s remarks, Tsai said: “I urge all supporters to stay cool and rational, and not fan the fires of hatred and division,” adding that she is not deterred by “attacks or insults” that had stemmed from her efforts to implement reforms.
“However, to hear this kind of language during the primary process is exactly what we worry about,” Tsai said. “The DPP cannot afford this kind of fractiousness and such emotional outbursts are not productive.”
Tsai added that her request earlier this year for Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) to encourage Taiwanese enterprises to return to the nation would result in more than NT$200 billion (US$6.47 billion) of investment.
“Those investments would boost Taiwan’s economic development and bring quality jobs to Taiwanese youths,” she said. “My clear directive was for that investment to grow to NT$250 billion by the year’s end.”
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