Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday criticized President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) attempt in his Double Ten National Day address to explain how he has been “misunderstood” as an example of how the president is disconnected from the public.
Tsai received a warm welcome on arriving at a Ko (柯) and Tsai (蔡) joint family reunion in Taipei, with participants turning away from an ancestor worship ritual to shake hands and take pictures with her.
However, the atmosphere became more serious when Tsai was asked to comment on Ma’s speech on Saturday, in which he said he has done much to improve cross-strait relations and bring about positive changes to Taiwan, but is often misunderstood.
“[When] a president who has been in power for more than seven years feels that the public has a number of misunderstandings about him, spending so much time explaining during a celebration in which he participated as president for the last time, I think it shows one thing — there is a really big gap between how the president thinks and how the public thinks,” Tsai said.
In response to questions regarding if she sang the words “our party” when the national anthem was played during the Double Ten National Day celebration outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei on Saturday, Tsai only said she took part as the chairperson of the DPP and sang the national anthem because she wanted to promote national solidarity, declining to go into a detailed discussion about what she sang.
Regarding DPP caucus whip Tsai Chi-chang’s (蔡其昌) suggestion to change the words “our party” to “our people,” Tsai said: “It is not the most important thing for us to do.”
When asked about Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), who is likely to be replaced at an upcoming KMT extraordinary national congress, Tsai said she feels that Hung has recently suffered significantly, and wished that Hung would cheer up.
At a separate event yesterday afternoon, Tsai met with a US Republic National Committee delegation headed by its chairman, Reince Priebus, at DPP headquarters.
The two sides exchanged views on Taiwan’s presidential election in January, Taiwan-US relations, economic development, youth employment and long-term care issues, officials said.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
US president-elect Donald Trump said he would “never say” if Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from China, but “I would prefer that they do not do it [ an attack],” adding that he has a “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). “I never say because I have to negotiate things, right?” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after saying he would not reveal his incoming administration’s stance on Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack. Asked the question again, Trump, in a reference to China, said: “I would prefer that they
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