In the last few days before the local elections on Saturday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said it is focusing on 10 regions it considers highly contested areas, while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said it is stepping up campaigns across the nation.
The DPP considers Keelung, Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, and Maoli, Yilan, Nantou, Penghu, Changhua and Yunlin counties as areas where its candidates are facing fierce competition, a party source said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice President William Lai (賴清德) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) plan to visit those areas again this week, the source said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The night before the elections, Lai is scheduled to visit Taichung, Changhua and Nantou before making his way to northern Taiwan, they said, adding that other senior party members would be in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan.
DPP Taoyuan mayoral candidate Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) began holding campaign rallies for six consecutive nights on Sunday.
In addition to a rally in the city’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) yesterday where he was joined by Lai, Cheng is to attend a rally in Neili (內壢) tonight, one in Yangmei District (楊梅) tomorrow with Su, and one in Bade District (八德) on Thursday with Tsai and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦).
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung’s (陳時中) campaign team has been granted use of Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building and Beiping E Road in front of his campaign headquarters for Friday night.
DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤), Chen’s campaign manager, said the Friday night rally would be held at one of the two locations, where Chen would be joined by Tsai and Lai.
Taipei is the most important battleground in Taiwan as it “represents the vision of shared governance of 10 million people living in the Taipei metropolitan area,” she said.
Photo: CNA
Meanwhile, as most of the KMT’s candidates are running for re-election, it would not ignore any city or county during the final week, and would continue to canvass for votes, a KMT source said.
KMT Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷), who doubles as the party’s Cultural and Communications Committee director-general, said that the KMT would provide full assistance to all of its candidates on the eve of the election by arranging the most suitable guests to attend campaign rallies in each city and county.
To quickly disperse false accusations that aim to smear its candidates in the last week before the election, the party would also keep in close touch with its candidates, he said, adding that the KMT would “be ready any time to strike back.”
The KMT does not have a big enough budget to monitor opinions online, but would be informed by party members or supporters about any accusation that gains too much attention, he added.
Additional reporting by Lin Liang-sheng
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to