Promising to lead Taiwan into a new age of tolerance, reconciliation, stability and peace, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday inaugurated her national campaign headquarters in front of a crowd of supporters in Taipei.
Tsai made her way slowly through the supporters — who greeted her with: “Hello, president,” and “victory for Tsai Ing-wen” — to reach the main stage outside of the building, where she announced its formal opening.
She asked DPP members holding public office, from borough wardens to local government heads and councilors, lawmakers, as well as support groups, to mobilize all the support they can to help the party win the January presidential and legislative elections.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“The fight for political interests could never bring peace and prosperity for the people, and the struggle for power would not take the nation forward,” Tsai told the crowd. “Politics should be as simple as possible; it should respond directly to the needs of the people, it should help to solve the problems for the people and this is what I want to do for Taiwan.”
Tsai said that, if elected, she would form a government that makes stability and prosperity of the public a priority, adding that social progress should be the nation’s most pressing issue.
“My politics is the politics of solving problems for the people. My politics is the politics of fulfilling dreams for the people,” Tsai said, adding that she is confident she would be able to honor her words.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), who is Tsai’s campaign manager, urged people to give the DPP another chance at running the nation, saying that Tsai is capable of leading the nation out of the difficulties it is facing, just as she led the DPP to stand up again following its defeat in the 2008 presidential election.
“At the DPP’s most difficult time, when it was on the verge of collapse, Tsai was brave enough to shoulder the responsibilities to lead the party,” Chen said. “Throughout the years, Tsai has led the party through storms, enabling us to see how strong, hard-working and professional she is as a leader.”
Chen said that instead of being tragic heroes who were jailed or had to constantly escape government repression — issues she said her generation of politicians faced — “Tsai represents a new generation of politicians who are calm and professional.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
There were several booths set up to accept piggy banks filled with donations and there were long lines of supporters in front of the booths.
More than 2,000 piggy banks were submitted to the campaign headquarters during the event alone, according to DPP data.
Some waited in line to browse the “Ing Store” to purchase official campaign souvenirs, while others lined up before an automatic donation machine, which accepted notes and coins, as well as printed receipts.
The event featured musical performances, as well as a market selling locally grown agricultural products and handmade items.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS