Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
Hsieh said Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), a popular Hakka politician, became the first female mayor of a special municipality by stepping in as acting mayor of Kaohsiung after he was appointed premier in 2005.
"She followed my step in becoming the mayor," Hsieh said. "And since I was once the premier, she may become a premier, too."
"If I am elected president, the nation may also have a female Hakka president in the future," he said.
first gathering
Hsieh made the comments in a rally held in front of Hsinchu's Yimin Temple yesterday. The occasion yesterday also marked the first time that Hsieh, his running mate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Yeh were all present at a public gathering since Hsieh's announcement of his choice of Su as his vice presidential running mate on Aug. 15.
Although Hsieh did not choose Yeh, who had expressed her interest in being Hsieh's running mate, Yeh was tapped by President Chen Shui-bian (
Hsieh has billed his union with Su and Yeh as the "golden triangle."
Yesterday's rally was held to drum up the Hakka community's support for Hsieh and Su, Hsieh's campaign office spokesman Chao Tien-lin (
ethnic harmony
Hsieh pledged to promote harmony among different ethnic groups at the rally.
"I believe in coexistence. I believe we have to prevent children from all ethnic communities in Taiwan from feeling threatened, in danger or persecuted, whether they be Hoklo, Aborigines, Hakka or Mainlanders," Hsieh said.
"This is our dream. No matter where you come from, no matter which ethnic community you were born in, we are all the same," he said.
Hsieh also vowed to oppose the idea of a cross-strait common market and unification with China advocated by his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterpart, Ma Ying-jeou (
"We will never allow Chinese laborers to compete for jobs with us in Taiwan," said Hsieh. "We will never allow Chinese women to compete for Taiwanese husbands. We will never allow low-quality merchandise from China to threaten our livelihood."
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Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but