Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters should rally behind the party’s candidate, who would be the best candidate for the party and selected through democratic methods, DPP Chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday.
Cho made the comment at a news conference prior to a meeting of the DPP Central Executive Committee amid calls by heavyweights in pro-Taiwanese independence groups for President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to back out of the party’s primary.
Former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) on Tuesday launched a signature drive calling for Tsai to withdraw and endorse former premier William Lai’s (賴清德) bid for the party’s nomination.
Photo courtesy of a reader
At an event at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei yesterday, former Presidential Office senior adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said that while he had not seen the actual wording of Lee’s signature drive, he supported the idea after hearing about it from others.
Tsai has done all she can and should bow out, allowing Lai to step up, Koo said, adding that Tsai could then be acknowledged as a “mother figure for the nation.”
Tsai’s mindset and passion are not being questioned, but her ability to withstand international pressure to declare Taiwan an independent nation is, he said, but added that he believed Tsai’s claims that she could defend Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Tsai does not need to continue to serve as president for the sake of continuing policies, but given the office she holds, it is only natural that she should think so, Koo said.
Cho urged supporters to rally behind the party and have faith in the democratic process, and called for pro-independence advocates to desist from further obstruction of the process.
The party and its polling center have worked to prepare for public opinion polls, which are to be conducted from Monday to Friday next week, he said.
The party would begin selecting the target population for the polls before conducting them under public scrutiny to ensure authenticity, he added.
He and DPP Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) would monitor the entire process in person, along with experts designed by Tsai and Lai, Cho said.
If all goes well, polling could be cut down to three days, he said.
Cho called on members of the public to express themselves clearly if they receive a polling call and to refrain from verbal abuse, as they are establishing a processing that might one day be looked at as a role model.
The DPP is to hold a televised debate between Tsai and Lai on Saturday afternoon, he said.
The party’s nominee would not be revealed until after the Central Executive Committee convenes on June 19, he added.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
WAY OF THE RUKAI: ‘Values deemed worthy often exist amid discomfort, so when people go against the flow, nature becomes entwined with our lives,’ a student said “Run, don’t walk” after your dreams, Nvidia cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) told National Taiwan University (NTU) graduates yesterday, as several major universities held in-person graduation ceremonies for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. “What will you create? Whatever it is, run after it. Run, don’t walk. Remember, either you’re running for food, or you are running from becoming food. Oftentimes, you can’t tell which. Either way, run,” he said. Huang was one of several tech executives addressing graduating students at Taiwanese universities. National Chengchi University held two ceremonies, with alumnus Patrick Pan (潘先國), who is head of Taiwan
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
RSS