Former vice premier Lin Hsi-yao (林錫耀), who is in charge of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) electoral strategy for her re-election bid, suggested that the party not verbally attack Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) in the run-up to next year’s presidential election, a source said.
Tsai, who this month won the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential primary, on Friday met with party lawmakers at her residence, where Lin apparently made the remark.
The meeting focused on party unity in the wake of the primary, its relationships with smaller parties and controlling false news reports, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.
Photo: Hsieh Wu-hsiung, Taipei Times
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who is contesting the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) primary, is losing influence, although he still has many fans, so the DPP must remain mindful, the source quoted Lin as saying.
There is uncertainty over whether Ko would run for president, so the party should not verbally attack him or offend his supporters, the source quoted Lin as saying, adding that even if he enters the race, the DPP should still try to draw in his supporters.
Ko — an independent who has said that he would decide in August whether he would run — would greatly affect the DPP’s chances if he were to contest the presidency, Lin was quoted as saying.
Opinion polls conducted by Tsai’s campaign team showed that among the potential presidential candidates, only Tsai can compete with Ko among young voters, other sources said.
Ko’s supporters are mainly aged 20 to 39, but he lacks support among people aged 60 or older, factions in rural areas and organizations, while Han has hardly any support among young people, but has support from elderly people and local factions, the sources said.
Tsai has relatively even support among all age groups, they said, citing opinion polls.
Ko, who was visiting Taitung, yesterday said that no DPP members have discussed with him the possibility of being Tsai’s running mate, but staff members from both sides maintain regular contact.
Taipei City Government adviser Tsai Pi-ju (蔡壁如) speaks with DPP Chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) from time to time, although their meetings do not have a specific agenda, Ko said.
Asked about Lin’s remark, Ko said he cannot explain other people’s ideas.
Supporters on Facebook for him and Tsai Ing-wen overlapped greatly in 2016, he said.
DPP spokeswoman Lee Yen-jong (李晏榕) said that Cho did not meet frequently with Tsai Pi-ju and the issue of a running mate for Tsai Ing-wen has not been broached between them.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS