President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign office yesterday questioned the legitimacy of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) “three little pigs” donation campaign and accused Tsai’s camp of using children as a campaign tool.
Tsai, the DPP’s presidential candidate, and her election team launched the “three little pigs” campaign late last month after the Control Yuan warned the DPP about a possible violation of the Act Governing Political Donations (政治獻金管理條例) when the party accepted piggy banks donated by three-year-old triplets. The act stipulates that only people of voting age who meet other voting eligibility requirements are allowed to make political donations.
The DPP returned the piggy banks to the children, but the incident sparked a fad among Tsai’s supporters to put their donations in piggy banks. The DPP later declared this month “little pigs month” and has used children as campaign spokespeople to call on supporters to fill piggy banks to support Tsai’s campaign.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
Ma’s campaign spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏) yesterday said the DPP should put a stop to the piggy bank drive, as it violates the law by seeking political donations from children.
Lee denied that the campaign team or the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) reported the piggy bank incident to the Control Yuan and said the DPP’s act of returning the piggy banks to the triplets showed that the party acknowledged its mistakes.
“We are not against the participation of children in campaign activities, but it is illegal to solicit political donations from children ... If such an incident happened in our camp, would the DPP keep quiet about it?” she said.
Lee said the campaign team had received complaints from parents who said they were saddened to see children appear at DPP fundraisers because they seemed to be used as a campaign ploy.
In Ma’s campaign souvenir shops, she said, campaign staff would remind supporters that only Taiwanese over the age of 20 are qualified to buy campaign products.
“We cautiously follow legal regulations and we urge the DPP to stop flouting the law immediately,” she said.
In response, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) hit back at the KMT for “never understanding [the virtue] of engaging in introspection.”
The KMT doesn’t understand that it [the three little pigs campaign] reflects people’s grievances about the current situation and their desire for change,” Lin said, adding that “the more the KMT oppresses [the three little pigs campaign], the stronger the support from the people [for the campaign.]”
BAIL APPEALS: The former vice premier was ordered to be held incommunicado despite twice being granted bail and paying a total of NT$12 million in bond The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered the detention of former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who is being investigated for alleged corruption while serving as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and that he be held incommunicado. The court made the ruling during a bail hearing after prosecutors appealed its bail ruling twice. Cheng on Saturday was released after posting bail of NT$5 million (US$153,818). However, after prosecutors lodged an appeal, the High Court on Monday revoked the original ruling and ordered the Taoyuan District Court to hold another bail hearing. On Tuesday, the district court granted bail to Cheng a second
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
PEACE AND SECURITY: China’s military ambitions present ‘the greatest strategic challenge to Japan and the world, Japan’s annual defense white paper said yesterday Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion. Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion. “Because of that increase in military activity,
HAN KUANG: The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers said The armed forces would for the first time test new rules of engagement (ROE) at this month’s annual Han Kuang exercises, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers told a news conference in Taipei. ROE cards would be issued to select combat troops to test their ability to function without tight control, they said. The most recent edition of the rules was published last year, they said. One of the cards’ two templates identifies enemy targets that soldiers