Several Japanese newspapers on Friday covered the run-up to Taiwan’s Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections, with Sankei Shimbun reporting that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was facing a tough fight in his re-election bid and that China was mulling ways to “cautiously intervene.”
The Sankei Shimbun said in an analysis filed from Beijing that China is actively searching for ways to try and influence the elections.
According to the Sankei Shimbun, despite public declarations that “it will not interfere in Taiwan’s elections,” Beijing is still trying to influence Taiwanese media through statements made by its Taiwan Affairs Office Chairman Wang Yi (王毅) and other officials, adding that China is also urging Taiwanese businessmen based in China to support Ma.
The article said that Beijing was putting out the word through pro-China groups in Taiwan that Beijing wants all 1 million China-based Taiwanese businesspeople to return home to vote in the elections, adding that the claim that some Taiwanese businessmen have been told that “if you can mobilize more votes for Ma, you will find doing business in China far easier in the future.”
Beijing is already making big moves under the table, the article said, adding that China has learned from past clumsy efforts at intervening when the outcome was the opposite of what Beijing would have wanted, and hence adopt a strategy of “cautious intervention” on this occasion.
Another newspaper, the Asahi Shimbun, said there has been a fall in support for Ma’s re-election campaign since he proposed signing a cross-strait peace accord over the next decade.
Ma’s re-election campaign efforts are also being undermined by what the Asahi Shimbun -described as a generally held perception that “the government lacks the perspective of the common people,” referring to the Dreamers (夢想家) rock musical debacle, a show that cost NT$215 million (US$7.1 million) and was staged for only two nights, as well as the initial decision to increase elderly farmers’ monthly pensions by a meager NT$316.
The analysis in the Asahi Shimbun pointed out that the KMT prefers to focus on cross-strait peace and economic development, together with the concept of safety, stability and ease of mind for all Taiwanese.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), it said, is stressing fairness and justice, adding that DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had said she would begin dialogue with China within four months if elected.
The analysis also points out that the addition of People First Party candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) to the presidential election would “possibly steal a certain amount of votes from the KMT,” adding that Soong’s strong oratory could “steal Ma’s thunder during the [planned televised] debates.”
Meanwhile, the Yomiuri Shimbun, said cross-strait relations were the biggest issue in the elections and although Ma and Tsai both want to maintain cross-strait peace, Ma recognizes the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Tsai does not “because Taiwan is already an independent sovereignty different from China.”
The article said various polls have shown support for the two main presidential candidates to be neck-and-neck, but that the addition of Soong to the campaign, meant that some pan-blue voters would not be voting for Ma, adding that “the common view is that things are looking bad for Ma.”
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS