Local election campaigns yesterday swung into high gear as political heavyweights stumped for candidates with motorcades, parades and rallies on “Super Sunday,” six days before Saturday’s elections.
After stumping in Taichung on Saturday for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung mayoral candidate Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) and Nantou County commissioner candidate Tsai Pei-hui (蔡培慧), President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) participated in a parade in Taipei yesterday afternoon and a rally in Taoyuan last night.
Tsai, who is also the DPP chairperson, called on voters to support DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) in the “Cherish Taiwan, Walk for Love” parade.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Before setting out from his campaign headquarters on Beiping E Road, Chen said the parade was meant to bring residents together “with love and tolerance” in a march to Taipei City Hall.
The parade was led by a fleet of motorcycles, followed by large helium balloons that formed the image of a three-headed dragon, made by the Paper Windmill Theatre troupe. Six large groups of DPP supporters, companies and associations also marched.
Chen and several of his campaign officers walked together throughout the parade, and were greeted by supporters waving flags and holding signs. It reached the Taipei City Hall Plaza at about 4:30pm, where singers and bands performed.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
An organizer said that about 150,000 people attended the parade, with about 50,000 at the plaza event, and 17,000 watching online.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his wife yesterday campaigned at city markets.
At the Jianguo Weekend Flower Market (建國花市), Chiang posed for photographs and held hands with supporters. One supporter handed him a pot of bamboo with a sign that read: “Smash into the enemy territory like splitting bamboo, and climb up step by step.”
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
Independent Taipei mayoral candidate Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) also canvassed for votes at traditional markets, where she handed out name cards.
Yesterday evening, she held a large event in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義).
“If you do not want to a return to conflict between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, ‘black gold’ corruption, inept governance or crony bureaucracy, and if you believe in a future with fairness and justice, please come” to the event, she wrote on Facebook earlier in the day.
Photo: Wei Chin-yun, Taipei Times
“No political party should override your will, so stand up and support Vivian Huang,” she added.
The KMT held a major gathering in Taoyaun on Saturday to rally support for its candidates in Taoyuan, Taipei, Hsinchu and Keelung.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday visited Penghu and Pingtung counties to support party candidates, sharing a stage with former Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and KMT Taoyuan mayoral candidate Simon Chang (張善政) at an afternoon rally in Kaohsiung for mayoral candidate Ko Chih-en (柯志恩).
Chu later attended a rally in New Taipei City in the evening.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) also had a packed weekend supporting his Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) candidates.
Ko, who is chairman of the TPP, rode in a motorcade through Hsinchu City on Saturday morning, calling for support for mayoral candidate Ann Kao (高虹安) and attended an evening rally in Hsinchu for Kao and 11 other candidates city councilor candidates.
Ko yesterday participated in a number of campaign events in Taichung before joining Huang at her rally in Taipei last night.
Voters in 22 cities and counties are to cast ballots on Saturday for mayors, county commissioners, councilors, and other local officials.
The DPP hopes to improve on its performance in 2018, when it secured only six mayoral and county commissioner seats, while losing seven others to the KMT.
The KMT aims to add more cities and counties to the 14 it controls, while the TPP stepped up campaigning for two of its mayoral candidates.
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS