President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is seeking re-election as the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, yesterday urged voters to “give [her] four more years,” saying “the next four years will be better.”
“Jan. 11 next year is key to protecting democracy and freedom,” Tsai said at an event in Taoyuan for independent Legislator Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇).
Taiwan has become an aged society, she said, adding that since 2016, the government has pushed for long-term care, increasing its budget funding from NT$5 billion (US$165.5 million) to an estimated NT$40 billion next year.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiuh, Taipei Times
The government hopes for seniors to receive the best service, whether at home, in their communities or at long-term care facilities, she said.
At another campaign event in Hsinchu, Tsai said that under the previous Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration, the economy experienced negative growth.
“Now, Taiwan is first among the four [Asian] Tigers,” she said, adding that the nation’s economy has grown for 14 consecutive quarters, because many people are returning to Taiwan to invest.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Overseas Taiwanese businesses have pledged to invest NT$800 billion, she added.
While campaigning for DPP Legislator Lu Sun-ling (呂孫綾) in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), Tsai said that she hoped people would vote for a candidate who can “take Taiwan forward,” instead of a “naysayer.”
Later in the evening, Tsai attended a concert in Taipei featuring heavy metal band Chthonic. The band’s lead vocalist is independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐), who is also seeking re-election.
Meanwhile, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), the party’s presidential candidate, said in a live-streamed interview yesterday that the KMT has been “controlled by a minority comprador group” when it comes to cross-strait affairs.
On the issue of pension reform, Soong said that the government would not be short of money if the DPP government could only clamp down on corruption.
Asked whether he regretted following former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Soong said that in the early days, Taiwan democratized through a “peaceful revolution,” as then-president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) knew that was the trend.
Lee, who at the time served as vice president and later became Taiwan’s first directly elected president, continued what Chiang did not finish, Soong added.
Today, the PFP hosts a relay around the nation on electric scooters, with legislator-at-large nominees visiting social welfare facilities.
Soong and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) would meet on the relay, Soong’s campaign spokeswoman Belle Yu (于美人) said, adding that the PFP hopes to run a “positive” campaign without manipulating other groups.
Additional reporting by Chou Hsiang-yun,
Hung Mei-hsiu and Chen Yu-fu
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
PROBLEMATIC APP: Citing more than 1,000 fraud cases, the government is taking the app down for a year, but opposition voices are calling it censorship Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday decried a government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書) for one year as censorship, while the Presidential Office backed the plan. The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited security risks and accusations that the Instagram-like app, known as Rednote in English, had figured in more than 1,700 fraud cases since last year. The company, which has about 3 million users in Taiwan, has not yet responded to requests for comment. “Many people online are already asking ‘How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng posted on
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS