The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said that, according to the party's seven heads of local governments in southern Taiwan, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will beat his opponent, the pan-blue camp's Lien Chan (連戰), by at least 600,000 votes in the upcoming presidential election.
"We are confident that President Chen will lead Lien by at least 15 percent of the vote and if the turnout is higher than 82 percent, we may win by over 650,000 ballots," said Kaohsiung City mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).
"We are strongly optimistic about the success of President Chen's reelection bid as well as the referendum. Negative campaign tricks employed by the pan-blue camp may affect voters in northern Taiwan, but only serve to provoke the grassroots voters in southern Taiwan and mobilize more voters to support the DPP," said Pingtung County Commissioner Su Chia-chuan (蘇嘉全).
The DPP yesterday gathered its heavyweights in southern Taiwan, including civic leaders from Kaohsiung City, Kaohsiung County, Tainan City, Chiayi County, Pingtung County and a representative of Tainan County, to call on voters to return to their places of birth on March 20 for family reunions as well as to cast their ballots in the nation's first-ever referendum.
"The DPP government has successfully balanced development and resources allocation between northern and southern Taiwan during the past four years, which has brought outstanding progress in this area, especially in infrastructures in the seven counties and cities," said Pingtung County Commissioner Su Chia-chuang (蘇嘉全).
"We hope that our fellow villagers or townspeople, who now have jobs in central or northern Taiwan, will return home to see the DPP government's achievements," Su said.
Hsieh said that to awaken supporters' passion and expand Chen's voter base, heads of local government have scheduled to launch big parades simultaneously in Kaohsiung City and County in the last three days leading up to election day.
"We visited almost every house in our city and county and people's reactions are much more positive than we expected," said Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsin (楊秋興).
"What we are concerned about now is how the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is proceeding with its vote-buying plan," Yang said.
Tainan City Mayor Hsu Tien-tsai (許添財) said that grassroots support of the DPP in southern Taiwan is now reaching a historical high.
"Therefore, we are confident that Tainan County, President Chen's hometown, and Tainan City will win at least 300,000 to 350,000 votes."
"In Tainan County, our goal is to get over 70 percent of votes, or five percent more than the record DPP support rate notched up by former commissioner Chen Tang-shan (陳唐山)," said deputy campaign executive of the DPP's Tainan County campaign headquarters, Yen Chun-tsao (顏純左).
As to the referendum, the DPP stalwarts said that, unlike in northern Taiwan, the blue camp dare not advocate giving up the referendum ballots in the south. The referendum vote would possibly receive even more support than that of President Chen, they said.
Su Chia-chuan and Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (
"The media on purpose ignore the fact that Lien Chan's family has evaded tax and hid their assets in foreign countries, but rather focus on whether the first lady, Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍), is involved in the stock market," Su said.
"Even the allegations made by former Tuntex Group chairman Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪) have only stimulated the DPP's grassroots support," Su said.
"We are wondering why certain media support a fugitive and we don't know whether people in northern Taiwan believe Chen Yu-hao or not," Su said.
"However, in southern Taiwan, people would not agree with a criminal and the fugitive's allegation will only repel people," he said.
Commenting on the pan-blue camp's huge rally on March 13, Su said that the rally did not reflect the reality because the KMT paid for people to participate in its march.
"We are sure that the pan-blue camp gave money to mobilize people and therefore our supporters also attended the rally -- to get the money," Su said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as