Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday announced her campaign team, a list that includes party veterans, DPP lawmakers and, notably, her former opponent in the party primaries, ex-premier Yu Shyi-kun (), as her campaign chairperson.
Tsai, who made a last-minute decision to enter the race for Sinbei City, appears to be sending a signal to her Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterpart, former Vice-Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫), that she has finished playing catch-up.
However, speaking yesterday, she said that she would face a tough battle against the favored KMT candidate.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Opinion polls show the two running neck-and-neck in Sinbei City, the name Taipei County will be known as after it is upgraded to a special municipality in December.
“I definitely did not choose to run in the Sinbei City elections because it is an easy battle, but because this city is full of hope and challenges,” Tsai said at her campaign office in Banciao (板橋) yesterday.
The announcement that Yu would be playing a prominent position in her campaign will assuage rumors that relations between the two were still sour after Tsai’s surprise announcement that she would take up the DPP mantle in the battleground city.
Prior to the announcement, Yu was seen as the DPP frontrunner, an assumption that DPP officials have privately confirmed.
However, these issues were not addressed by the former premier yesterday as he stepped to the podium, asking voters to reject the KMT and support Tsai along with the four other DPP candidates. He said that Tsai’s campaign would focus on governing abilities.
Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙), a former Taiwan Solidarity Union lawmaker, will serve as Tsai’s deputy campaign chairperson. Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡), a former judge and DPP legislator, will serve as chief coordination manager, a position he once held during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) election campaigns.
Meanwhile, former minister without portfolio Lin Si-yao (林錫耀) has been appointed executive director of the campaign and former DPP caucus whip Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) will be responsible for running Tsai’s support clubs. DPP Legislators Yu Tian (余天) and Lin Su-fen (林淑芬) will also play prominent roles.
Tsai said the biggest feature of her campaign team would be their vast experience working in central and local governments, which she said would help create a new beginning for Sinbei City.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard