Baseball and pets are the theme at the campaign headquarters of Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, said his campaign office yesterday ahead of its official opening on Dec. 3.
A dog named Luke, who Lai owned for more than a decade before the pet died, was the inspiration for illustrations covering a wall, titled “Painting of Nine Dogs.”
The cartoon images tell the story of Lai and his pet, with a series of YouTube videos the basis for the drawings, said Kuo Ya-hui (郭雅慧), spokeswoman for Lai’s campaign office.
Photo courtesy of Lai’s campaign office
A separate poster, titled “Come Together for Taiwan” (台灣一起拼), is a collaboration by nine Taiwanese artists, who contributed images that were placed atop a map of Taiwan to represent safeguarding the nation, Kuo said.
The decor used visual elements from baseball, with a green floor resembling an outfield, oversized baseballs on shelves and noise-makers. The walls are orange and yellow, the main colors of the Tainan-based Uni-President Lions baseball team, who Lai — a legislator and former mayor of the municipality — supports, Kuo said.
Two drawings on the wall are based on the number nine, the number of players on a baseball team, representing team unity, Kuo said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
At a separate event, Lai spoke at the launch of a book by former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), titled Safeguarding the Nation for Four Years (護國四年).
Lai said that the ruling and opposition parties all bear a responsibility to safeguard the nation.
“All citizens must rally together to bolster our national defense capability,” Lai said.
“We can strengthen ourselves with indigenous defense production and procure weapons from overseas while standing with the global democratic alliance,” he said. “In this manner, we can manifest our strength of unity, which the forces of authoritarian regimes fear.”
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