Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday expressed confidence that she would secure victory in next year’s presidential race, saying her campaign’s polls showed her support rating trailing that of her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) by only a small margin.
Hung made the remarks at an event at KMT headquarters in Taipei yesterday morning attended by several Taiwanese businesspeople based overseas who support the deputy legislative speaker.
“The media have assumed that my opponent [Tsai] could win the election lying down,” Hung said.
Photo: CNA
“Despite this, I am confident and do not believe their assumptions are necessarily aligned with reality, as internal polls conducted by my campaign team suggest the two of us are closely matched,” she said.
Hung said on the sidelines of the event that the polls indicated the support ratings of all three candidates have shown some ups and downs.
The latest poll showed Tsai just 7 percentage points ahead of her, Hung added.
Asked whether the poll results had given her confidence a boost, Hung said she did not experience any major mood swings because she “has always remained confident.”
“I am certain that each step I have taken and every effort I have made would not go unnoticed in the eyes of my supporters,” she said.
“That is why there is no need to be bothered by outside disturbances,” Hung said.
According to a survey released by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) on Thursday, Tsai held a commanding lead among the candidates with 44.75 percent support.
People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) had 13.76 percent support, while Hung was at 12.13 percent, the Liberty Times survey showed.
A Taiwan Thinktank poll on Monday last week yielded similar results, showing Tsai having 47.6 percent support, against Hung’s 16.3 percent and Soong’s 13.9 percent.
Hung said her supporters overseas were a vital source of strength who have kept her from collapsing and motivated her to keep going.
“Cross-strait relations are of great importance and I hope they can be brought to the next level based on the 1992 consensus,” Hung said.
The so-called “1992 consensus” is a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000 referring to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Beijing that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
She said she does not favor rapid unification with China as the public has assumed, but is guided by the Republic of China Constitution.
Tsai said later on the sidelines of a World Taiwanese Chambers Union trade forum in Taipei that she had not seen the “internal polls” Hung referred to and that she respected her statements.
Tsai said the results mentioned by Hung were “slightly discrepant” from those shown in surveys carried out by her campaign office.
As to whether there was a hint of competition between her and Hung given that both of them met with Taiwanese businesspeople yesterday, Tsai said the event she attended was simply a platform for her to exchange opinions with overseas entrepreneurs who had returned home to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
“Many of them are leaders among Taiwanese businesspeople based in Southeast Asian countries. Hopefully their support could help me get elected president,” Tsai said.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS