The winner of the presidential election on Saturday last week should be humble and take care of the people, while the defeated should continue working hard and remember the hopes of others, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said in a video posted online yesterday.
Lee said that every election has winners and losers and that they have different responsibilities.
“The winner should be more humble and, as the country’s leader, take care of all the people,” Lee said in a Lunar New Year message.
“Do not forget that nearly half of the population is dissatisfied with their lives, and the country still has to face many challenges,” Lee cautioned President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who won re-election on Jan. 14.
Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) lost to Ma of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) by a 6 percent margin, or nearly 800,000 votes.
Lee said Tsai has responsibilities toward those who supported her.
“A lot of people have placed their hopes on the losing candidate. The defeated should continue carrying out her responsibility of encouraging others and continue to work hard,” he said.
The 89-year-old former president stumped for Tsai at an election-eve rally despite having undergone cancer surgery just weeks earlier, which many in Tsai’s campaign had hoped would give her a boost and put her over the top.
Regardless of the race’s outcome, Lee praised this year’s peaceful election as a sign that democracy was progressing and that it had become a shared value.
He warned, however, that only by maintaining Taiwan’s autonomy could democracy be sustained.
“We should have faith and continue working hard to enable Taiwan to become a truly democratic, free and prosperous normal country and to establish a fair and just society,” Lee said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS