Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) absence from the party’s latest campaign commercial for next month’s local government head elections sparked speculation yesterday about Ma’s popularity with the party’s candidates.
The KMT yesterday made public its first campaign commercial for next month’s local elections. The commercial highlighted the interactions between party candidates and local voters, while Ma, who has enjoyed great popularity with candidates in past campaigns, was notably absent.
In response to reporters’ questions about the president’s absence from the commercial, KMT Spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said party candidates were the protagonists in the upcoming elections and denied speculation it was related to the president’s plummeting popularity.
“Chairman Ma is already in a lot of news coverage while campaigning for party candidates, and so the campaign commercials put the focus on the candidates because they are the protagonists in the elections,” Lee said yesterday at KMT headquarters. “The election next month is not a presidential election, but local elections for 18 city and county heads.”
Ma is spending his week nights and weekends campaigning for the party’s candidates. He visited Yilan County last night to stump for incumbent Yilan County Commissioner Lu Kuo-hua (呂國華), and will address the KMT’s 115th anniversary celebration tonight in Taoyuan.
Lee said Ma would attend more campaign events for party candidates countrywide in the following weeks.
The party will introduce the 18 candidates for the year-end elections at the anniversary celebration, and will show video clips of Ma and the candidates at the event, Lee said.
In related news, a survey released yesterday showed a majority of Taiwanese have more trust in US President Barack Obama than in Ma.
The telephone survey of 1,004 adults by Global View monthly magazine found that only 38.6 percent trust Ma, while Obama had a 46.1 percent trust rate.
Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received a 35.4 percent trust rate, while only 17.5 percent said they trusted Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
Also, 52.9 percent said Obama was friendly toward Taiwan and 52.3 percent said the US was in a better position to safeguard Taiwan’s interests than China.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DPA
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
ALLIANCE: Washington continues to implement its policy of normalizing arms sales to Taiwan and helps enhance its defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide US$571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the US State Department approved the potential sale of US$265 million in military equipment. Biden had delegated to the secretary of state the authority “to direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan,” the White House said in a statement. However, it did not provide specific details about this latest package, which was the third of its kind to
RSS