Academic Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (
Speculation has been rife that Lee might agree to become premier if the DPP's Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) wins the presidential election on March 18. An agreement by Lee to do this might win the election for Chen; even the enthusiastic endorsement of Chen by the widely respected Nobel laureate could have a significant effect.
Hsieh Kuo-hsing
DPP officials, hoping to attract undecideded voters, have indicated that Lee could attend a giant campaign rally for Chen scheduled for March 11 to help support Chen's "anti-black gold politics" platform.
Hsieh yesterday would not say whether Lee would show up at the rally, but hinted that he may have changed his stance regarding whether or not to enter politics.
"People do change," Hsieh said, somewhat cryptically. "It all depends why and when."
Responding to reporters' questions yesterday, Chen himself was low key over the possibility of the Nobel laureate accepting the premiership, saying only that Lee believed that the transfer of power from one party to another was necessary to terminate "black gold" -- the collusion of official corruption and moneyed interests in politics -- in Taiwan.
DPP officials said during the final part of the campaign they would concentrate on mobilizing the youth and intellectual vote, adding that Lee's potential role in the campaign would have significant impact on such voters.
"We are going to hold three huge campaign rallies [next week] in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung to mobilize a million supporters to raise morale. If Lee promises to participate in one of them, the DPP could win the election," said Jimmy Kuo
DPP officials revealed yesterday that Lee is still considering whether to attend a DPP rally or to make a formal declaration expressing his support for Chen -- either directly or indirectly.
"Lee will publicly appeal to voters to join the movement against vote buying and `black gold' politics and we will be in complete harmony with that. That is the best way to tell voters that Lee stands with us," DPP officials said.
The apparent efforts to bring Lee over to Chen's side has not been lost on Chen's rivals.
Tsai Cheng-yuan
Tsai said Lee is a respectable social figure, not a politician and he criticized Chen for using "political manipulation" to damage Lee's reputation and social status.
Tsai called on Chen to withdraw from the election to show his respect to Lee.
Kao Tzu-min
Kao alleged an entrepreneur donated a large sum of funds for President Lee Teng-hui
He said it was inappropriate to declare the nomination of any official before the election.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
‘FALLACY’: Xi’s assertions that Taiwan was given to the PRC after WWII confused right and wrong, and were contrary to the facts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) claim that China historically has sovereignty over Taiwan “deceptive” and “contrary to the facts.” In an article published on Wednesday in the Russian state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Xi said that this year not only marks 80 years since the end of World War II and the founding of the UN, but also “Taiwan’s restoration to China.” “A series of instruments with legal effect under international law, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration have affirmed China’s sovereignty over Taiwan,” Xi wrote. “The historical and legal fact” of these documents, as well
RSS