President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday called on female supporters to help her battle the prevalence of disinformation in social media by being guardians who report online rumors and false news reports.
Tsai asked attendees at a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) “Sisters” event at the party’s headquarters in Taipei to follow her accounts on Facebook and Line, the most popular social networking platforms in Taiwan, saying that with election campaigns now also conducted online, “this way you can follow the latest updates and information.”
“We will need all the support from our sisters, who can be guardians for Tsai Ing-wen, helping to pass on information to friends and family regarding government policies,” she said.
“If you see disinformation or fake news, please make clarifications and report the articles so we can find out who is spreading falsehoods and stop them from circulating,” she said.
“We must win the presidential election and secure more than half of the seats in the legislature,” she said, adding that the elections on Jan. 11 next year would determine the nation’s future.
“Taiwan is a pluralistic and multicultural society, and we have respect for freedom and human rights,” she said.
“Many Taiwanese are worried as they watch what is happening in Hong Kong,” she said, referring to anti-government protests there and the possibility of intervention by the Chinese military.
“They are afraid that the future generations will not enjoy freedom and democracy,” she said, adding: “If I am your president, then you need not worry.”
“Everyone’s ballot is important, as it is the people who will decide on our democracy and way of life,” she said.
“Taiwanese can choose to be the masters of our own nation, or go on the path of annexation by China and unification,” Tsai said.
“It will be a crucial vote and we must not make the wrong decision,” she said. “So we should have a strong will and work together in this battle by telling family members and friends to support us.”
It was the second DPP Sisters event, which aim to mobilize women for the election campaign.
DPP Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that party members and government officials would rally for the campaign.
“Women can hold up half the sky and you can give Taiwan four more years of peace and stability,” Cho told attendees.
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:
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