Women are “ready” and “prepared” to take the nation’s presidency and put to rest traditional concepts about them, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential hopeful Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
“Our time has come and we are ready,” Tsai told a discussion on female empowerment at the Garden of Hope Foundation in Taipei. “Next year will be an important test as to whether Taiwanese society can overcome traditional ideas about women and accept a female leader. There are people who wonder whether it is possible ... but I believe that the end result will be a good one.”
The remarks drew applause as Tsai, the nation’s first female presidential candidate representing a major political party, seeks more support among female voters — a demographic evenly split between her and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), recent polls showed.
Photo: CNA
Responding to questions on whether women in politics faced greater difficulties, Tsai said that “surprisingly,” female candidates had been treated more favorably in the political arena, adding that more women should become involved.
“Many times we hear people say that as long as it is a female with a high level of education and good looks, she will be elected. In other words, society is starting to have a more favorable impression of female politicians,” she said.
Tsai has largely downplayed the gender issue before the upcoming campaign, which is expected to pick up in earnest in the next two months. Yesterday was one of the few occasions where she spoke on the subject.
Tsai also commented on a report by the Chinese-language Want Daily saying Beijing had been exerting pressure on the DPP and Tsai through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) to accept the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The controversial consensus refers to a supposed understanding reached during a meeting in Hong Kong in 1992 between Taiwanese and Chinese representatives, under which both sides claim to have acknowledged that there was “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “one China” means.
The DPP insists that the “1992 consensus” does not exist.
In 2006, former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted he made up the term in 2000 before the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) handed power over to the DPP.
The Want Daily quoted unnamed sources as saying that the matter was discussed between a Chinese Taiwan Affairs Office official and AIT Chairman Raymond Burghardt in New York last week.
Saying she wasn’t clear on the issue, Tsai, however, countered that “China should spend some time understanding the substance of Taiwan’s democracy,” adding that changes in administrations and policies were a “common routine” in democratic politics.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
New Taipei City prosecutors have indicted a cram school teacher in Sinjhuang District (新莊) for allegedly soliciting sexual acts from female students under the age of 18 three times in exchange for cash payments. The man, surnamed Su (蘇), committed two offenses in 2023 and one last year, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The office in recent days indicted Su for contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), which prohibits "engaging in sexual intercourse or lewd acts with a minor over the age of 16, but under the age of 18 in exchange for
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS