The first televised debate between Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterpart Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will take place after the Jan. 12 legislative elections, the organizers of the debate said.
The six organizers of the televised debate -- the Public Television Service (PTS) channel, the Central News Agency, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper), the China Times, the United Daily News and the Apple Daily -- made the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday.
Also present at the event were Hsieh and his aide Lee Ying-yuan (
The organizers hope to hold two debates, with the first taking place on Jan. 26 or Jan. 27, and the second on March 1 or March 2, said Chen Shen-ching (陳申青), PTS deputy general manager and convener of a preparatory committee for the debate.
However, the two sides failed to reach an agreement on when the debate(s) should be held and it is unclear how many will now take place.
Hsieh proposed that the first debate be held on the date chosen by the organizers, while Chan asked the organizers to help negotiate between the DPP and the KMT on selecting a date.
Prior to the press conference, Ma had insisted that the debate be held in February.
Under the plan for the debate, the two presidential candidates will answer questions from 20 members of the public and from media representatives.
The 20 individuals will be selected from a Web site to which members of the public are invited to upload their questions in 30-second video clips, the organizers said.
Would-be participants could also send their video clips on CD-ROMs to the organizers, they said, adding that the Web site also allowed the DPP and the KMT to respond to the posted questions.
In addition, the organizers said the 20 people selected will be invited to the televised debate to raise follow-up questions.
Through the debate, the organizers said they hope that the two candidates can take the opportunity to listen and respond to the public, rather than engaging in a smear campaign against each other.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
RSS