Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) is not asking people to ditch the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to help the People First Party (PFP) become the third-largest party in the Legislative Yuan, PFP legislator-at-large candidate Amanda Liu (劉宥彤) said yesterday, adding that Gou’s team aims to maximize the power of third parties.
“Gou clearly stated on Sunday that pan-green camp voters could consider voting for the TPP in the party ballot if they cannot support the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) this time,” said Liu, who was a spokeswoman for Gou while he was contesting the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential primary.
“He also called for support for the PFP from pan-blue camp voters if they are disappointed by the KMT’s performance,” she said.
Photo: CNA
“For moderate voters fearing that the DPP would seize an absolute majority in the Legislative Yuan again, he said that they should really consider supporting the PFP,” Liu said. “I believe he would maintain this position for election day.”
Liu made the statement before joining other PFP candidates to canvass for votes from campaign vehicles.
Despite failing to secure the KMT’s nomination, Gou continued to exert his influence on politics in Taiwan by having aides enter legislative races and supporting candidates of other parties who have aligned themselves with Gou’s camp.
Evelyn Tsai (蔡沁瑜) and Ann Kao (高虹安), also former Gou aides, are legislator-at-large candidates for the PFP and the TPP respectively.
Gou would try everything to help the PFP garner more party votes, from recording mobilization messages for robocalls to canvassing for votes on the streets, Liu said, adding that they would step up campaign efforts in Taipei and New Taipei City to show that the PFP is the party that can counterbalance the KMT and the DPP.
The principle that governs the strategy of Gou’s team is to maximize the force of third parties in the Legislative Yuan, she said, adding that Gou would spend more time campaigning for the PFP, because it needs to work harder to secure more votes from moderate voters who lean toward the pan-blue camp.
Gou’s team and the PFP would further integrate campaign resources in the days remaining before the elections, so voters would see a different PFP, she said.
Gou’s team and the TPP have jointly nominated Richie Lee (李縉穎) to contest the legislative seat for New Taipei City’s Tucheng (土城) and Sansia (三峽) districts, and the team and the PFP worked to nominate former KMT Youth League secretary-general Lee Zheng-hao (李正皓) to run in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和).
The two Lees are perfect examples of maximizing the power of third parties by combining the PFP, the TPP and independent candidates, Liu said, adding that they would help fulfill Gou’s promise to build a high-tech corridor in northern Taiwan.
PFP vice presidential candidate Sandra Yu (余湘) said that Gou’s robocall message would boost votes for the party, as he has a lot of supporters.
PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), its presidential candidate, and Yu started canvassing votes nationwide yesterday, the party said.
“Our experience from contacting voters in person is that approximately 20 percent of people have yet to decide how they are going to vote,” PFP Department of Mobilization Director Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) said. “They are generally young and remain undecided because they dislike Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) [the KMT’s presidential candidate] and are disappointed with the DPP government.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and