DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (
At Chen's opening ceremony, party representatives from counties and cities promised to deliver a total of 4.5 million votes, or 40 percent of expected total turnout -- enough to send him and his running mate Annette Lu (
Hosting the event, Chen Chu (
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Taipei county commissioner Su Chen-chang (蘇貞昌), vowed to win a total of 700,000 votes, or 39 percent of the vote in his county, for Chen.
"This is more than what I won when I was elected. I'll work my hardest to achieve this result," Su said.
The best locality for Chen will be in Tainan County, where he was born, if he garners the promised 51 percent of the vote (300,000 votes).
Chen is expected to only have minimal support in Kinmen and Matsu. He expects only 10 percent, or 2,420 and 332 votes respectively.
"Even this is fairly optimistic as it's tough for the DPP there," Chen Chu said.
Residents of the two islands close to the Chinese coast are traditionally the least friendly to the opposition party.
According to the number of votes pledged, Chen would receive 4.57 million votes, or around 40 percent of votes expected to be cast on March 18, campaign officials said.
According to the Central Election Committee, there are currently around 15 million eligible voters nationwide. The turnout for voters is widely expected to be as high as 75 to 80 percent; the March election will mark only the second time a president here has been chosen by popular vote.
Meanwhile, Vice President and KMT presidential candidate Lien yesterday opened two local campaign headquarters, one in Kaohsiung and one in Penghu.
Lien took the opportunity to condemn both his opponents. He attacked Soong's notions of so-called "relative sovereignty" and "quasi-international relations," terms used by the former provincial governor to describe Taiwan's relations with China.
Lien said that nobody understands what Soong's term "relative sovereignty" means, not even Lien himself who holds a PhD in political science. Lien also said "quasi-international relations" means that Taiwan is less than a country, and that is downgrading its status.
Lien also said that Chen's position on Taiwan independence could threaten the island's safety.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
Foreign ministers of leading Western democracies sought to show a united front in Canada yesterday after seven weeks of rising tensions between US allies and US President Donald Trump over his upending of foreign policy on Ukraine and imposing of tariffs. The G7 ministers from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, along with the EU, convened in the remote tourist town of La Malbaie, nestled in the Quebec hills, for two days of meetings that in the past have broadly been consensual on the issues they face. Top of the agenda for Washington’s partners would be getting a
RSS