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.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but