Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will soon unveil “10-year policy guidelines” and policy white papers that will serve as the backbone of her presidential campaign platform, the DPP said yesterday, adding that it was paying close attention to the possible entry of People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) into the presidential election.
Tsai, who has been staying out of the public eye by avoiding public -appearances from Saturday to tomorrow, has been busy finalizing the guidelines, white papers and nomination of her running mate, campaign spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said.
The release of the policy documents, which contain a wide range of issues from China policy and national finance to environmental protection, Hsu said, should be able to answer DPP supporters’ questions and rebut criticism from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which has accused Tsai of ambiguity in her China policy.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Commenting on the latest -Chinese-language United Daily News poll, which showed Tsai trailing President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is seeking re-election in January, by 8 percentage points, or 44 to 36, Hsu said the DPP still viewed Tsai’s head-to-head battle with Ma as a toss-up, with Tsai leading by less than 1 percentage point, according to an internal poll.
The newspaper poll, released yesterday, also surveyed a possible three-way race if Soong announces his candidacy. Under this scenario, Ma would lead Tsai with 38 percent against 31 -percent, with Soong receiving 15 percent of support, while another 15 percent were undecided.
Ma’s loss of 6 percent of support showed that some swing voters were not satisfied with his performance and decided to tip their hats to the third candidate, Hsu said.
However, 5 percent of DPP supporters turned their backs on Tsai, which is a warning sign, Hsu said, adding that the party was still assessing the shift.
“The change means something different for both campaigns,” she said.
Regardless of the poll results, Hsu told reporters the basis of the Tsai campaign remains unchanged.
“The DPP still holds the view that swing voters will be the deciding factor in the presidential race as well as the legislative elections,” Hsu said.
While DPP supporters, the press and even some DPP officials described the general atmosphere of Tsai’s campaign as “cold” because discussions, rallies and public speeches had not been as intense as in past elections, Hsu said the phenomenon has been “the norm in maturing democracies” and there is no need to worry.
“Academic studies have found that, while you see passionate participation in politics and high turnout rates in the early development stage of young democracies, those numbers gradually decrease in maturing democracies,” she said. “What is happening in Taiwan right now is in line with global trends.”
Meanwhile, poll results released yesterday by xfuture.org, a Web site with a platform similar to the stock market that allows users to predict results of future events, showed that Ma increased his lead over Tsai to 2.8 percent, up from 1.9 percent a week ago.
While Soong has enjoyed a popularity surge over the past few weeks, the results showed that the possibility of Soong entering the race was only 13.6 percent, while he has virtually no chance of winning.
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
RSS