Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday braved heavy rain to canvass for votes in Taichung — one of the administrative regions the party considers a decisive battleground in Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections.
Chu, wearing a light-blue jacket and a hat displaying his campaign slogan: “One Taiwan,” arrived in Taichung yesterday morning as scheduled and boarded a vehicle with bulletproof glass.
Chu originally planned to canvass the streets with six of the KMT’s eight candidates who are running for regional legislative seats in the city one-by-one. The six candidates are Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒), Shen Chih-hwei (沈智慧), Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆), Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), Yang Chung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Johnny Chiang (江啟臣).
Photo: AFP
However, Yen was not present due to a scheduling conflict and entrusted his younger sister, Taichung City councilor Yen Li-ming (顏莉敏) of the KMT, to hit the road with Chu on his behalf.
Yen Kuan-heng’s father, former Non-Partisan Solidarity Union legislator Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) — whose family enjoys strong local ties and networks in the city — also came to greet Chu in his son’s stead.
“I have seen that in spite of the heavy rain, many of our supporters are still ardent and enthusiastic... Even though I am soaking wet, wind and rain can bring confidence and I would not let them stop me,” Chu said.
Chu dismissed concerns that Yen Kuan-heng’s absence yesterday is an indication that the KMT leadership is losing its grip on local fractions in Taichung, saying the decision to include Yen Kuan-heng in his street-canvassing schedule was made at the last minute.
“People have read too much into this. Initially, we planned to head directly to the city’s downtown area, but later decided to make another stop [at Yen Kuan-heng’s campaign headquarters],” Chu said.
Asked why Taichung was included in his last-stage campaign schedule and was also the first city he visited after securing the KMT’s nomination as its presidential candidate in October last year, Chu said he regards Taichung as extremely important.
Chu said central Taiwan is undoubtedly a decisive battleground in the upcoming election and the KMT is determined to beat the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the area.
The KMT lost Taichung to the DPP in the 2014 nine-in-one elections, after the city had been governed by former KMT vice chairman Jason Hu (胡志強) for 13 years.
The final stop in Chu’s vehicle procession was the Tzu Chi Temple (慈濟宮) in the city’s Fongyuan District (豐原), where the KMT candidate prayed to the sea goddess Mazu (媽祖) for victory in Saturday’s elections.
Chu traveled back to New Taipei City in the afternoon, where he canvassed in Wugu (五股), Lujhou (蘆洲) and Sanchong (三重) districts.
Meanwhile, Chu’s wife, Kao Wan-chien (高婉倩), visited a traditional market in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) yesterday morning to solicit support for her husband.
Accompanied by KMT legislative candidate Lin Kuo-chun (林國春) and Lin’s wife, Kao shook hands with vendors and doled out campaign-themed disposable hand warmers to onlookers.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
RSS