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.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS