The three aspiring vice presidents yesterday presented their campaign platforms at the first and only televised vice presidential policy presentation hosted by the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Like the first televised presidential presentation on Wednesday, last night’s event was conducted in three rounds, with each candidate given 10 minutes per round.
The order of presentation was decided by drawing lots, with former premier Simon Chang (張善政) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) going first, followed by former premier William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and former United Communications Group chairwoman Sandra Yu (余湘) of the People First Party (PFP).
Photo courtesy of Central Election Commission via CNA
Lai and Chang are experienced politicians, while Yu, dubbed the “advertisement godmother” of Taiwan by the media, is new to politics.
Chang described a DPP digital entrepreneurship plan as a “deviant” policy that “kicks young people [out of Taiwan]” and touted “10 major digital action plans” he and his running mate, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), have proposed that would include establishing a digital innovation committee as part of the Executive Yuan to promote digital education and the development of smart cities.
The DPP government has lied to voters by embellishing statistics, he said.
He initially hoped that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would lead the nation to a better future, but over the past two years he has seen the Tsai administration’s incompetence polarize the Taiwanese public, Chang said, adding that he finds it intolerable because of its blatant cronyism and nepotism.
A major reason he is running is that he hopes to establish a new environment for Taiwan, he said.
Digital technology is the key to economic transformation and ensuring people’s welfare, but the Tsai administration has failed to foster the development of innovative technologies, he added.
Lai said that “DPP” is not only an acronym for the party, but also for “democracy, peace and prosperity,” which are critical to the nation’s development.
He emphasized the importance of maintaining Taiwan’s democracy, cross-strait peace and economic prosperity.
Taiwanese love peace, but China has continued to threaten Taiwan with its military power and poaching of diplomatic allies, Lai said.
The KMT hopes to resolve issues with China through a peace deal, which would compromise Taiwan’s democracy, he said, adding that Taiwanese must stand united against China, which he described as a “bad neighbor.”
Tsai has made great strides in economic development and by 2030 Taiwan could become a “smart country,” where smart technology is incorporated into finance, education, healthcare, agriculture and manufacturing, he said, pledging to promote language education policies to turn Taiwan into a bilingual nation.
Yu said that at Wednesday’s presidential presentation, the DPP and KMT once against performed “a wonderful act filled with confusing statistics and political mudslinging, but no actual policies were presented.”
The nation’s two largest parties have gone to great lengths to marginalize the PFP, because it is the only party that accurately represents public opinion, Yu said, adding that the DPP has turned a blind eye to the pain and suffering of society over the past four years and its so-called reforms have been nothing but political purges against the KMT.
Yu described a DPP-proposed anti-infiltration bill as “a highly controversial, unthorough bill that tears apart and polarizes people,” urging the ruling party to halt discussion of the bill until the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 11.
She pledged better care for veterans and older farmers; to review pension reforms for military personnel, public servants and public schoolteachers; and to increase social housing for young people and the elderly to better implement housing justice.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
RSS