Can Lai relax?
Some media firms and opposition politicians have disdainfully remarked that Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, can conduct his election campaign “lying flat.”
In other words, they think that with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) failing to agree on a joint ticket, the election has become something of a cakewalk for Lai.
The contemptuous statement suggests that Lai’s odds of winning depended on whether the alliance came together, disregarding Lai’s endeavors since campaigning began. It is as if, had the KMT and TPP come to an agreement, Lai would have had to work desperately on his campaign, but now that the talks have collapsed, Lai can win without breaking a sweat.
Lai has traveled throughout Taiwan and proposed policies to make the nation better, before naming former Taiwan representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) as his running mate.
He developed relationships with locals wherever he went, listened to them, offered help to undergraduates to reduce their tuition fees and spoke at many colleges, winning applause from students and the hearts of the younger generation.
After Hsiao became his running mate, Lai even made “developing Taiwan” a priority for the campaign, to bring a better future to the nation.
The DPP, the KMT and the TPP are running their respective campaigns, and Lai can expect attacks from the KMT’s presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), and TPP Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲). Lai must pull out all the stops to win over voters and avoid allowing the opposition parties to jeopardize Taiwan’s future.
How could anyone say that Lai winning the election would be a cakewalk?
Yeh Mei-hsia
Taipei
Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention. If it makes headlines, it is because China wants to invade. Yet, those who find their way here by some twist of fate often fall in love. If you ask them why, some cite numbers showing it is one of the freest and safest countries in the world. Others talk about something harder to name: The quiet order of queues, the shared umbrellas for anyone caught in the rain, the way people stand so elderly riders can sit, the
Taiwan’s fall would be “a disaster for American interests,” US President Donald Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy Elbridge Colby said at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday last week, as he warned of the “dramatic deterioration of military balance” in the western Pacific. The Republic of China (Taiwan) is indeed facing a unique and acute threat from the Chinese Communist Party’s rising military adventurism, which is why Taiwan has been bolstering its defenses. As US Senator Tom Cotton rightly pointed out in the same hearing, “[although] Taiwan’s defense spending is still inadequate ... [it] has been trending upwards
Small and medium enterprises make up the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, yet large corporations such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) play a crucial role in shaping its industrial structure, economic development and global standing. The company reported a record net profit of NT$374.68 billion (US$11.41 billion) for the fourth quarter last year, a 57 percent year-on-year increase, with revenue reaching NT$868.46 billion, a 39 percent increase. Taiwan’s GDP last year was about NT$24.62 trillion, according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, meaning TSMC’s quarterly revenue alone accounted for about 3.5 percent of Taiwan’s GDP last year, with the company’s
There is nothing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could do to stop the tsunami-like mass recall campaign. KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) reportedly said the party does not exclude the option of conditionally proposing a no-confidence vote against the premier, which the party later denied. Did an “actuary” like Chu finally come around to thinking it should get tough with the ruling party? The KMT says the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading a minority government with only a 40 percent share of the vote. It has said that the DPP is out of touch with the electorate, has proposed a bloated
RSS