Despite speculation and encouragement from supporters, Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) yesterday announced that he would not run in next year’s presidential election, adding that he would fully support Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) campaign.
“I will not join the DPP primary for next year’s presidential candidate,” Lai told reporters at a charity event in Tainan. “First of all, I think it’s more important to hold on to values than hold any positions, and I don’t necessarily have to be the person who leads the party to victory.”
Lai added that Tsai has been preparing to run in next year’s election for a long time and is a good candidate to represent the DPP, “since she has led the DPP to stand up again after its defeat in 2008 and it was under her leadership that the DPP was able to win in the nine-in-one local elections last year.”
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
“The DPP should stand united and give its full support to Tsai — and I will also give my best wishes to her,” Lai said.
He said that he did not want to quit his current position now, as he has a rare chance to reform local politics in Tainan, adding that “it is more important to uphold a value than hold a position.”
Although Lai said he would not take part in next year’s presidential election and the DPP finalized its nomination schedule last month, many supporters as well as DPP politicians — including former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) — have expressed their support for Lai, with Koo even promising the media that Lai would decide to run in the end.
However, Lai declined to answer when asked if he decided not to run because his support rate is much lower than Tsai’s.
Meanwhile, Tsai said she respects Lai’s decision and lauded him as a courageous and talented politician.
“Lai is an excellent political leader in the party; what he has accomplished as mayor of Tainan makes him a role model in leadership and governance,” Tsai said. “I especially admire him for his courage in fighting against dirty money and reforming local politics.”
“As Lai is an excellent politician, I would like to invite him to be part of the 2016 presidential election [campaign],” she added.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS