The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is striving to change the opinions of young people, as polls have suggested that support from this demographic for its presidential candidate, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), lags behind his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), a KMT official said yesterday.
KMT Organizational Development Committee Youth Department Director Hsiao Ching-yan (蕭敬嚴) said that with fewer than 100 days before Jan. 11’s presidential election, it would be difficult to turn the tables in Han’s favor.
A more practical approach would be to win back the hearts of young people who once supported Han and the KMT, but drifted away from the party after the tumultuous presidential primary, Hsiao said.
Photo: CNA
Han won a lot of support in Kaohsiung’s mayoral election last year, as young people were moved after seeing the opportunities he could bring, Hsiao said, adding that recovering that lost sentiment would be the party’s next move.
People have lost track of what Han’s youth policy is, because public attention has been shifted due to Han’s talk of “phoenixes out, chickens in,” Hsiao said, in reference to comments Han made in August during a livestream discussing youth issues.
The remarks prompted criticism, as many perceived Han to be comparing migrant workers to chickens, saying that phoenixes are professionals who leave Taiwan and chickens are those who come to Taiwan to be blue-collar workers.
The party would arrange for Han to reintroduce his youth policy at forums to show his resolve to improve the lives of young people, Hsiao said, adding that Han would take on any challenge.
The youth department and Han’s campaign headquarters are to establish a support group to help him get closer to young people, Hsiao added.
The group would be headed by Li Ming-hsuan (李明璇), who hosted a forum last year at which Han talked with young workers who had relocated from southern Taiwan to the north for work opportunities.
A forum is to be held in the middle of next month in Taipei, where Han is to meet and talk with young people, and explain why he decided to run in the presidential race when he is only one year into his mayoral term, Hsiao said, adding that if the forum goes well, more would be held in central, southern and eastern areas.
While Han’s campaign team has said that it aims to win young people’s support by engaging with student clubs, Hsiao said his department would not only target university students, but everyone under the age of 30.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said