Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday officially signed up for the party’s primary for next year’s presidential election, vowing to defend the nation and look after the public.
Accompanied by Thinking Taiwan Foundation chief executive director Angela Chang (張振亞), Tsai arrived at DPP headquarters in Taipei yesterday morning to register for the party’s primary election.
Tsai filled out the forms and handed over NT$5 million (US$158,856) — a NT$4 million primary registration fee and a NT$1 million opinion poll fee — at the registration counter.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Entering the race for the second time, Tsai said she has traveled extensively around the nation over the past few years and feels that Taiwanese are disappointed with the current political culture, and that there is very little trust in the government’s ability to govern.
Despite suffering and difficulties, most people had not given up, Tsai said, but continue to struggle.
“The strong will of the public is not an excuse for politicians to sit and watch. Instead, someone must stand for the public so they feel that there is someone defending the nation, governing and looking after them,” Tsai said. “I hope I have the opportunity to work for the public.”
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
She also rejected Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) claims that her policy agenda since the 2012 presidential election has been empty.
“Such criticism shows that the KMT has not really reflected on its failures,” Tsai said. “The KMT has tried to copy my proposals on housing, social and economic policies, but since we have different values and visions, their attempts have not been successful.”
Tsai said it is still too early to discuss her future campaign partner.
In related news, Taipei Veterans’ General Hospital physician and DPP member Kuo Cheng-deng (郭正典) showed up at party headquarters at about 3:45pm yesterday to obtain a copy of the registration form, expressing his wish to sign up for the primary.
However, Kuo said he did not have the NT$5 million registration fee, and called on his friends and anyone who would support him to help him collect the money before today’s registration deadline.
Besides Kuo, two DPP heavyweights — former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) — have previously said that they would not take part in the primary.
‘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