The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is rolling out two new presidential election ad campaigns focusing on economic issues this week in a bid to shift the focus back to government policy, instead of the raging “war over persimmons.”
In the ads, the party congratulated President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is seeking re-election, for posting new records — “record-high housing prices” and “record-low salary growth.”
The subtitles in the advertisements read: “President Ma, you’ve broken the record again!”
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The first advertisement shows that a working-class citizen would only be able to afford an apartment in Taipei if he or she does not spend money on anything else in 16.2 years, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said, adding that the same statistics in the first quarter of this year was 13 years.
“The numbers proved that the rise in housing prices has far outpaced income growth,” he said.
The second advertisement focused on the regression of Taiwan’s salary growth, telling viewers that more than 3.6 million workers — or almost half of the nation’s salaried people — were paid less than NT$30,000 (US$990) per month.
The salary was almost the same as 1999 levels and represented a 12-year slide, Lin said.
With regards to the ongoing “persimmon war,” in which the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had been engaged in a battle of rhetoric over the falling prices of persimmons, the DPP reiterated that the key issue was not prices per se, but the persistent problem of a supply-and-demand imbalance in the agricultural sector.
In a recent campaign flyer printed in the format of a calendar, the DPP listed a dozen types of locally grown fruits, among them persimmons, that have plunged in prices this year.
The persimmons shown on the flyer were non-astringent persimmons, which were being sold at least 10 times the price of astringent persimmons, the fruit the DPP wanted to highlight.
Ma and the KMT subsequently accused the DPP of misleading the public by quoting incorrect prices and hurting farmers who grow non-astringent persimmons.
It was unfortunate that the Ma administration had turned a blind eye to the rising cases of falling fruit prices and the Council of Agriculture had insisted that compensation for farm produce loss was the responsibility of local governments, DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said.
While the KMT continued to attack the DPP over the misplaced picture and claim that the DPP’s flyer had dragged down the price of non-astringent persimmons, the DPP maintained its position as a political party which prides itself of always taking care of farmers, he said.
“To us, this is an agricultural issue that affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of farmers and not a campaign issue,” Chen 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
RSS