Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Sinbei City mayoral candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday intensified his attacks against Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), accusing her of being insincere and questioning her failure to show up at a TV debate.
However, the Tsai camp said previously she could not attend because of a schedule conflict coupled with the last-minute invitation.
During the recording session for what was supposed to be a debate held by a local election committee, Chu repeated some of his key campaign promises, including a ambitious extension of the MRT network in Sinbei City — the soon-to-be-renamed Taipei County — the creation of new, low-cost community housing and additional daycare subsidies.
It was a shame, he said, that Tsai wasn’t present to offer an alternative viewpoint or inform voters about her campaign platform.
“It’s deeply regrettable … it wasn’t the right approach,” he said. “Respect for voters and respect for electoral principles should be a fundamental principle [of any election].”
“For instance, if we are talking about [school tests], it would not be the right approach if students were able to pick and choose the subjects they had an advantage in, and only take tests and go to school for those subjects alone,” he said.
The taping was done yesterday morning by the Sinbei City election commission, which is responsible for election affairs in the to-be-formed special municipality, for broadcast on TV on Saturday, a week before the special municipality elections.
Chu used his 30-minute solo performance to expound on some of his ideas on how to empower Sinbei City’s economy, vowing to focus on improving the sports, culture and movie industry.
Using limited resources, he said, he would attempt to “create unlimited opportunities for the future.”
The KMT candidate, a former vice-premier who is considered a rising star within his party, said supporters and undecided voters alike should give him a chance.
He asked viewers to “come out and vote, otherwise [I] won’t be elected,” adding that voters should “choose a candidate whose heart is in Sinbei City.”
“Tsai is [too busy] enjoying life in the spotlight as DPP chairperson,” he said. “[She] shouldn’t forget that the post she is running for is Sinbei City mayor.”
The remarks were part of a volley of recent attacks by Chu and other KMT campaign officials over allegations that Tsai has so far refused to make her position clear on issues, including the proposed MRT expansion, community housing and urban renewal, which both the candidates have pledged to accelerate.
Tsai’s campaign has vehemently denied the accusations, characterizing the conflict over the debate as “political spit.”
The DPP candidate, a spokesperson said, had a conflict with a previously scheduled recording session with Google, part of the Internet giant’s ongoing series on the special municipality elections.
“The election commission only told us about the date of the debate on Thursday, while the interview [with Google] was scheduled more than two weeks ago,” campaign spokesperson Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) said, adding that the late invitation was unfairly biased against Tsai’s campaign.
“Not only did it fail to respect [our] schedule, [the organizers] were prejudiced throughout the planning stages,” she said, referring to earlier accusations that organizers refused to publicize key information prior to the event.
At a campaign event following the Google interview, Tsai said “every candidate has a different method of releasing their campaign platform.”
“I believe … that the decision not to attend the debate was neither right nor wrong,” she said.
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the