With the Hualien County commissioner race looking to be a close call between KMT-PFP alliance nominee Hsieh Shen-shan (謝深山) and KMT splinter candidate Wu Kuo-tung (吳國棟), some members within the KMT are calling for pan-blue supporters to resort to the so-called "dump-save effect" or "strategic voting" in a bid to avoid handing an unexpected win to DPP candidate You Ying-lung (游盈隆).
"In view of local rumors that say Wu is set to receive wide support from local PFP grassroots, the Hsieh camp must not underestimate Wu's vote-pulling potential," KMT legislative leader Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) said.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"With the by-election drawing closer to the final countdown, PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) should call for people to dump Wu in order to consolidate pan-blue support for Hsieh."
The by-election is slated to take place this coming Saturday. Although polls show that Hsieh is in the lead, both You and Wu are close behind showing steady increases in their support ratings.
"Unless Hsieh can widen the gap between him and Wu, it is possible that the DPP candidate would benefit most from a tight race between Hsieh and Wu," said Liu.
Given the fact that both Hsieh and Wu's votes overlap as they battle it out for Hualien's traditional pan-blue support, the Hsieh camp is appealing to supporters to "dump Wu to save Hsieh," while the Wu camp is calling on its supports to do the opposite.
Both Soong and KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) showed up in Hualien yesterday with a group of fellow party legislators. Accompanying Hsieh, the group engaged in an all-day electioneering effort yesterday ranging from visiting local influential figures, taking part in street procession to various Hualien villages, chatting with Aborigines over lunch and attending a campaign rally at night.
While admitting that Soong holds significant sway with the region's Aborigines, Wu, a Hakka, remained confident Soong and Lien's presence would not threaten his basic Hakka support.
"If the KMT and the PFP overplay their hand, it might produce a counter effect with Aborigines," Wu said.
"That would not bode well for next March's presidential election," he added.
Asked to comment on the pan-blue camp's "dump-save effect" propaganda, You said, "It is obvious the KMT and the PFP from the beginning have always wanted to get rid of Wu."
"Although it is not yet clear how the `dump-save effect' would develop, I have gathered from my visits to grassroots that there seems to be a see-saw battle between Hsieh and Wu's supporters," he said.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS