Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) on Saturday said his support ratings, like those of several other DPP candidates, should be at least 15 percent higher than recent polls show.
Since the DPP is the ruling party and has a legislative majority, many of its supporters might be less willing to voice their position, and are caught up in a spiral of silence, the Taipei mayoral candidate said.
Support for the party’s candidate for New Taipei City mayor, former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and Yilan County commissioner candidate Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀), were all underestimated by at least 15 percent, Yao said.
Photo: CNA
Ask for his response, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Saturday said nationwide poll results showed reduced support for DPP candidates after the south was battered in August by rain and floods, but their support rates would probably soon rise.
Election wins are a combination of the right people, place and time, and sometimes outside incidents can have an influence the, such as the controversy over Taiwanese K-pop star Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) in 2016, so candidates can only do their best with what they can control, Ko said.
Yao also vowed that if he wins, he would ban the raising of the Chinese national flag in Taipei.
“If I become the mayor, unless raising our national flag is allowed in Beijing or Shanghai, raising the five-star red flag will not be allowed in Taipei” based on the spirit of mutual equality and dignity, he said.
He would also remove the remaining statues of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) from public institutions in the city to speed up the process of transitional justice.
Yao’s and Ko’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival, Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), yesterday said that city residents are more concerned about long hours and low salaries, and few really care about removing statues of Chiang.
Manipulating ideology would not accelerate Taipei’s development nor increase residents’ income, Ting said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS