Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday officially launched her presidential campaign with a speech pledging to bring back trust in the government and hope for the future of the country.
“I hear Taiwan’s voice and it’s telling me that a new generational change of power is rising, that we must start to walk a different road,” Tsai told a gathering of officials in the morning.
Standing in her trademark black outfit, Tsai, 54, invoked destiny in seeking to reclaim the presidency, lost in 2008, promising a “more fair country” where Taiwanese would be their own masters.
Photo: AFP
She portrayed the campaign as not about her own candidacy, but as a reflection of growing pressure from the young, the poor and the dissatisfied, yearning for change in a country that is growing more divided by income and status.
“The reason for government is not to allow a few people to reap the benefits of economic growth, but to create a society where everyone can enjoy the fruits of prosperity,” Tsai said. “This is my belief and what I believe to be Taiwanese values.”
Tsai, who joined the DPP in 2004, is looking to cap her rapid rise to prominence by returning the broken and bruised party she inherited in 2008 back to the Presidential Office, becoming the country’s first female president.
Her 16-minute speech referred to the party’s resurgence to loud, long rounds of applause and she said that it has once again provided Taiwan with an alternative future in which the public can believe.
“Taiwan desperately needs a political choice away from the KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] and we must become that strong and viable choice,” she said. “Taiwanese are telling us that they want to be their own masters, devoted to this piece of land … I have heard these voices and I will not back down.”
Tsai also downplayed concerns over her lack of administrative and electoral experience, saying: “I have proven that the DPP can be reborn from the ashes.”
“People have said that I’m not political; that I can’t scheme and will be unable to live in the complicated political environment. However, in three years, I have shown … that scheming doesn’t have to be a part of politics, and that trust and debate are more important,” she said.
To receive the DPP’s nomination, Tsai will still have to battle against former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who represents a cadre of “party elders,” and possibly former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), seen as close to making an announcement of his own.
It wasn’t clear whether the two received invitations to the high-profile event given out earlier this week, although both failed to attend the announcement. Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), another possible contender, was absent. However, one of his supporters, former Cabinet spokesman Pasuya Yao (姚文智), was there.
Party observers were closely watching participants at the venue for signals of support from the DPP’s many factions and divides.
Lacking were politicians connected to Su and Lu.
Also in attendance were pro-independence heavyweights such as Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏), pointing to backing from the DPP’s more fundamental wing and seen as important to clinching party support in the primaries.
To cast aside allegations of a conflict of interest between her party leadership role, Tsai said on Thursday she would take a leave of absence, with the post temporarily filled by party veteran Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), the DPP caucus chief.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats