Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) spokesman Shu Chin-chiang (
"Based on our estimates, our support will surely exceed the 10-percent level and we are moving toward our target of 15 percent," Shu said yesterday.
Shu said southern Taiwan, where the party's localization line is popularly embraced, appears to be where the majority of TSU supporters reside. "But in the final week, we will not tilt our campaign efforts to any particular region, because no district can be relinquished."
From today until Friday the TSU's campaign tour will cover almost the entire country. While mainly popular in the south, Shu claimed that the party is also doing fairly well in urban areas such as Taipei City.
"The reason for the TSU candidates' relatively weak showing in polls taken in Taipei City is due to the large number of candidates. But this does not mean we will do poorly there," Shu noted.
"There will be no so-called `dump-save effect' (
Despite the doubts of other parties, the TSU official said that "he was quite optimistic" about the outcome of the elections because "its popularity is steadily climbing."
Given the strong support of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the newest pro-Taiwan group has become rather influential in the three months since its establishment. Lee implemented the localization and "Taiwan first" strategies during his 12 years in power and the TSU has pledged to continue with Lee's political legacy.
According to recent polls conducted by the TSU, nearly 60 percent of the respondents approve of Lee's re-emergence to stabilize the political scene. And such support grows stronger the further south one goes.
In contrast to residents in the south, where people are predominantly Taiwanese, residents in Taipei -- where ethnic groups include mainland Chinese, Hakka and Taiwanese -- show lower support for Lee.
Even so, results show that 17 percent of Taipei City residents support the TSU, as do more than 40 percent of Taipei County residents. The TSU's approval rating is 40 percent in the central region and rises to 60 percent in the counties of southern Taiwan.
TSU officials freely admit the key to their success hinges on how effectively it transfers the public's love for Lee to its candidates.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats