The DPP campaign office yesterday slammed KMT candidate Lien Chan (
Over the past two months, Lien has promised to spend over NT$1 trillion in various welfare schemes that are nothing more than drawing on a balance that the Lien does not have, said Chiu Yi-jen (
Chiu said yesterday that Lien could never make good on the "checks" that he has been issuing given his unreliable performance during the time he was premier.
Since Lien first made a campaign promise on Nov. 18 to give elderly fishermen a NT$252 million subsidy, Lien's campaign promises have reached the total of an entire year's budget for the central government, he said.
Chiu publicized a list of "checks" for Lien's campaign promises, including funds for developing Yunlin County, NT$1 billion to NT$2 billion; funds for developing Penghu County, NT$3.8 billion; the National Stabilization Fund, NT$500 billion; funds for extending education to 12 years, NT$60 billion; funds to buy each class of all schools and families at least one personal computer, NT$10 billion; education funds for children, NT$1.4 billion; education funds for senior high schools, NT$1 billion; a pay raise for local public representatives, NT$2.6 billion; and funds for agricultural development, NT$280 billion.
Chiu said that Lien has said nothing about whether the government was actually able to fund all of these promises and that this was tantamount to cheating the voters.
In addition, Chiu said, Lien had lost his credibility when he was premier from 1993 to 1997. For example, Lien vowed to downsize the number of government officials by at least three percent, but in fact the result was a four percent increase, he said.
"And he even pledged to eliminate all corruption inside the government, but on the contrary, there were still 60 serious corruption cases involving over NT$80 billion during Lien's term as premier," Chiu said.
He also said Lien failed to carry out his promise to help put part of the Chiayi City railway underground. Moreover, Lien said that he would solve the flooding problem at Tainan County's Science-based Industrial Park, and develop Keelung's public works. None of these goals have been reached, according to Chiu.
"Given all this, how can people trust Lien again? We can only say that the Lien-Siew ticket, which they themselves call a team with two premiers, is but a team of `check bouncers,'" Chiu said.
Chen's campaign officials said that many KMT local organizations, which originally supported independent candidate James Soong (
"There are only 59 days left to campaign. The KMT's enormous party machine will certainly start to gear up. We have to take them on in every village and township," said Jimmy Kuo (
Kuo stressed that while Soong and Lien were struggling to win over local KMT factions, the DPP had a better opportunity than before in developing a grassroots power base.
"We plan to establish over 7,700 local campaign organizations at the neighborhood level," Kuo added.
"Chen will be at the head of campaign teams which will hold over 400 rallies in various townships across the island," he said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS