Confidence is a good thing, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said yesterday, when asked what she thought of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) statement that she is sure the DPP would be back in power next year.
Tsai made the remarks during a meeting with former US vice president Dan Quayle on Monday.
Hung, who met Quayle yesterday, said she is also fairly confident about her election prospects.
“It is a good thing to be confident,” the deputy legislative speaker said.
Asked what she and Quayle talked about during the meeting, Hung said she thanked him for the US’ long-term support “from World War II fighting against Japan and fascism through the Cold War to contain the expansion of communism to, and [the two countries’] continued cooperation even when official ties were severed.”
“And as cross-strait relations have reached their most stable period, so has our relationship with the US. We are no longer a troublemaker,” Hung added.
Asked if we she would consider visiting the US, Hung jokingly complained about being constantly pressed about the issue before saying that it needs further deliberation.
Her spokesperson, Jack Yu (游梓翔), later added that Hung attaches great importance to the Taiwan-US relationship and, even if she could not visit the US because of her tight schedule, she would send representatives to go in her stead.
Meanwhile, a survey commissioned by the KMT after its national congress on Sunday, when Hung won the party’s official nomination, reflected a narrowing gap between Hung and Tsai.
The poll released on Monday evening showed that 37.6 percent of respondents supported Hung against 47.1 percent who favored Tsai.
“Hung has apparently gained popularity [after the party congress], and the gap between the two [candidates’] numbers has shrunk to less than 10 percentage points,” the KMT said, adding that 15.2 percent of those surveyed did not return an answer.
Asked about party affiliation, 28.7 percent of respondents said they support the DPP, 28.6 percent are pro-KMT, 17.4 percent favor the People First Party, 12.8 percent the Taiwan Solidarity Union and 4.5 percent showed no preference for any party.
The KMT poll also showed that Hung has slightly more support in northern Taiwan, but loses to Tsai in the south.
The survey was conducted from a random sample of 962 respondents aged above 20. The margin of error was 3.2 percentage points with a confidence level of 95 percent.
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