Newspapers polls over the last few days have shown Lien and Soong ahead of Chen by 17 to 25 percentage points.
China's concealment for months of the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), has hurt Beijing's image here, however, and the DPP is starting to exploit that.
"It has made many Taiwanese people think twice about doing business with an authoritarian government," said DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), the director of the party's international affairs section.
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) issued a statement on Monday evening offering to let Chen choose a different running mate for his re-election campaign.
Her outspoken criticisms of China, sometimes going beyond those of Chen, had won her the admiration of many within her party but made her controversial with the broader public.
In an interview on Monday, Soong said he still believed that he had a chance at winning the presidency on his own.
He said that he chose an alliance with Lien instead because he thought the country needed a president who could win more than 50 percent of the vote.
The selection of Lien, 66, and Soong, 61, underlines the continued dominance of older politicians over the conservative wing of national politics, despite the ties that these two men bring to the country's authoritarian past.
The most popular politician by far in the country today, polls show, is Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
But while Ma, at 52, is seven months older than Chen, he is still viewed within the KMT as too young for national leadership.
The KMT has a strong Confucian history of respect for elders, said Shaw Yu-ming (
"Ma will have his day by behaving mildly, politely," Shaw said.
Soong said that he and Lien both had more experience than Ma and could rely on the wide networks of skilled aides that each had gathered over the years.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
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