Candidates offered some of their strongest and most passionate performances in yesterday’s final Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) televised policy session as all three kept to the strengths displayed so far in the campaign.
Although no major winners appeared from the session, the event was seen as a make-or-break appearance for the two frontrunners, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), struggling amid close poll numbers.
In the last session before the official polls are conducted to decide on the nominations, both expanded and clarified parts of their platforms that will play a key role in the general elections, including cross-strait and economic policies.
Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良), meanwhile, launched a fiery delivery on substantive policy measures he would take if elected president, including an invitation for Tsai to join his ticket. However, he acknowledged that a win would take a “miracle from God.”
The two-hour face-off consisted of questions asked by experts, as well as an extensive opening and closing period by the three candidates.
In his opening, Su described Taiwan as a vibrant, economically advanced country that has been kept down by international isolation and oppression from Beijing.
“Taiwanese can travel freely around the world, we can sell our goods all over the world, but are still unable to stand and sit as equals among the world’s nations,” Su said. “What we want is for Taiwan to be treated as an equal to China.”
Su emphasized his experience to say that he would seek to restructure Taiwan into a greater part of the global financial system and to strengthen relations with existing partners, instead of simply focusing on China.
Singaporean Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) met with him twice during a recent visit to Taiwan and the two shared an understanding that national interests could not run second to Chinese pressure, Su said.
“In order for Taiwan to change, it must maintain its dignity,” he said.
Tsai strengthened her rhetoric on her experience as a trade negotiator, pledging to further expand Taiwan’s international ties and its economy, calling them closely related to the country’s island culture.
However, carefully setting herself apart from President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) bid for greater cross-strait cooperation, she said Taiwan must decide “whether it wants to be at the center [of the world] or on the periphery of China.”
“When looking at cross-strait relations, we must put ourselves in an international framework and not be limited by a cross-strait framework,” she said.
A future administration would stand by the agreement, she suggested, but it would also look at other voices on how it would deal with its aftereffects.
Questions dealt mostly with softer domestic issues, including preparations for natural disasters and the balance between conservation and development, as well as remarks on the sex-trade industry.
Tsai and Su spoke briefly on the topics, but stressed that while the former DPP administration made mistakes, the DPP has since reflected and made changes to those policies to reflect modern realities.
Both Tsai and Su said the DPP would emphasize green planning and sustainable development. The two also agreed the country needed to refine its social welfare policies, but remained inconclusive on whether local municipalities should open up “red light” districts.
Through most of the session, Hsu, who is trailing heavily in polls, maintained his commitment to closer cross-strait ties. If elected, he said he would reduce the military, end Taiwan’s dollar diplomacy and look into modeling Taiwan after a “European social welfare state,” he said, adding he would nominate a “special ambassador to China.”
He would also push for former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to be granted a presidential pardon, arguing that the move would lower political tensions.
Absent yesterday from the last-ditch effort by Tsai and Su was any criticism of each other, consistent with past pleas to keep up party unity even as the DPP heads into its closest presidential primary race yet, judging by recent polls.
In emotional performances near the end of the session, the two used the closing remarks to stress that whether they win or lose the primaries, both would continue to support the DPP’s presidential campaign.
The DPP was more important than any one candidate, they said.
“Win or lose, we are all part of the same party … and I will never leave the party I helped found,” Su said. “The party is more important than one single person, but Taiwan is even more important than one single party. And we must unite the party and unite Taiwan.”
If he lost the primaries, he said, he would continue on as a “volunteer for Taiwan,” he said — stopping short of stating any concrete plans.
Tsai, meanwhile, also repeated her earlier remarks that all three candidates “represented the DPP” and praised the maturity of the primaries for avoiding the damaging splits that have characterized past party presidential candidate nominations.
“It’s a testament to the maturity of the DPP and to our primaries that we can have these policy sessions today,” she said.
The session is the last of four televised policy sessions that have largely continued the stalemate between Tsai and Su. The official telephone polls will start on Monday and a winner is expected as soon as Wednesday.
‘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
RSS