Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said remarks made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) — who said an election win for Tsai would harm agricultural exports — were “disappointing,” urging him to do more than just scare people.
“The KMT presidential candidate is unable to show his party’s achievements from good governance [in the past seven years], or to present complete and constructive planning for the economy and industries. Instead [Chu] only continuously plays the ‘threat’ card,” Tsai told reporters during a campaign outing in Changhua County.
“The people of Taiwan would be disappointed,” she said.
Photo: Chang Tsung-chiu, Taipei Times
Instead of making threats, Chu should brainstorm what he could do to improve the competitiveness of the agricultural sector in the international market, Tsai added.
The DPP, unlike the KMT, has a complete set of planning that covers exploring new markets, as well as enhanced management and planting for the agricultural sector, which could help it find more opportunities, Tsai said.
On Saturday, Chu said that during the DPP administration of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the government was “unfriendly” toward local farmers’ and fishermen’s associations by taking over the credit departments of 36 such organizations, making it difficult for the associations to expand their businesses.
Tsai said the credit departments were taken over by the government at the time because they were suffering from bad debts and excess loans, pushing them to the edge of collapse.
Tsai defended DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) in the face of accusations by New Taipei City prosecutor Huang Meng-shan (黃孟珊) that Tuan had tried to interfere in a case by pressuring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to add dehydrated gypsum to a list of permitted food additives after a food manufacturer was indicted for using the substance in its products.
Tuan denied the allegation, saying that he merely helped the food manufacturer to petition the FDA, as dehydrated gypsum is a legal food additive in many other countries.
“Tuan has explained the incident clearly, what he has done is what a lawmaker should do, and he is now preparing to file a lawsuit over the allegations,” Tsai said.
“He is handling the situation in a responsible way,” she said.
Tsai denied a report by the Chinese-language China Times that the DPP has lowered its expected number of legislative seats in constituencies in northern Taiwan after Chu joined the presidential race.
“The rumor is inaccurate,” Tsai said. “The election campaign as a whole has been stable for us and we are campaigning according to our original plans.”
“Our rival is making up stories,” she added.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS