Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, yesterday promoted construction work for a Taoyuan MRT extension and touted the “New Silicon Valley” plans for the region, including Hsinchu and Miaoli County.
Lai and Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), a former Taoyuan mayor, attended campaign events for two DPP legislative candidates in the city — Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) and Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇) — and visited temples in the city before traveling to a major rally in Hsinchu County’s Jhubei City (竹北) in the evening.
Lai said that Taiwan’s New Silicon Valley would spur economic growth, with the supply chains for semiconductors, computer peripherals, photonics and green-energy products boosting Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
The Taoyuan brown line — which is to link Taoyuan Railway Station with Huilong Station on the Taipei MRT’s Zhonghe-Xinlu (Orange) Line in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊) — has entered the final review stage and is expected to be approved in the near future, depending on what modifications are required, he said.
At Shoushanyan Guanyin Temple in Taoyuan, Lai urged people to make the right choice and tell the world that Taiwan would not go back to the old ways of economic dependency on China.
Lai and other party officials on Wednesday announced their plans for the final 10 days of campaigning, with street canvassing in the mornings and evening rallies.
Lai and some of the DPP’s female legislative candidates greeted people on Wednesday near Taipei Arena.
“This election is a choice between democracy or living under an authoritarian regime,” Lai said.
“Taiwan belongs to the world,” he said. “After two terms under President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), we are on the road to link up with more countries to enhance economic growth, and advance the values of democracy and freedom as endorsed by the international community.”
“With Tsai’s second term about to end, if the baton is taken up by another party, Taiwan would regress to the old ways,” he said.
“So it is up to [vice presidential candidate] Hsiao [Bi-khim, 蕭美琴] and I to drive this car called Taiwan and have courage to drive this road to the future,” he said, referencing his “On The Road” campaign slogan.
DPP legislators Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜); DPP legislative candidates Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶), Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) and Hsieh Pei-fen (謝佩芬), as well as Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) of the Social Democratic Party; former minister of health Chen Shih-chung (陳時中); and other DPP officials and staff attended the Taipei event.
Hsiao and DPP candidates on Wednesday attended an event near New Taipei City Hall in Banciao District (板橋).
“We shall lead the people with confidence and courage on the road forward,” she said. “We will foster more innovation, creativity and economic prosperity for Taiwan, while also safeguarding Taiwan’s free and democratic society.”
“We will encounter many challenges and roadblocks ... for example as DPP legislators Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) and Chang Hong-lu (張宏陸) have — facing personal attacks from opponents using deepfake videos to villify Lo,” she said. “We call on people to condemn these unsavory assaults on their reputations. Let us take up the power of love, and strive for truth and love to prevail over hatred and rumormongering.”
Lai and Hsiao have evening rallies planned tonight in Nantou and Changhua counties.
Six rallies are planned tomorrow in Hsinchu City, Chiayi City, Chiayi County’s Minsyong Township (民雄), Taichung, Taoyuan and New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊), said former Pingtung County commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安), who is Lai’s national campaign director.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan