Vice President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that as Taiwan is facing a military threat from China, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is the “No. 1 choice for safeguarding Taiwan’s sovereignty” and is best positioned to garner more support from voters.
Lai, party chairman and the DPP’s presidential candidate, accepted debriefing reports on opinion poll results and news of the opposition parties at a Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei, DPP Secretary-General Hsu Li-ming (許立明) said.
Hsu reported that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) seemed to have early success at consolidating internal support after the official confirmation of New Taipei Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) as its presidential candidate at a party congress at the weekend, and that Hou seems to have stabilized his public support.
Photo: CNA
The KMT has launched attacks against and disseminated disinformation about the DPP, especially working to distort the boosting of Taiwan-US relations, but Lai still holds the lead in the opinion polls, which indicates most of the public cannot identify with its deliberate misrepresentation and smearing, Hsu told Lai.
Lai reminded the committee about the DPP’s early history, its role in Taiwan’s democratic transition and the core values his platform is based on heading into the election campaign.
The DPP was founded during the Martial Law era and through an arduous journey, DPP members fought against the then-KMT government’s repression and against the government-controlled media to push for more press freedom, Lai said.
He said that DPP members took up the struggle to repeal Article 100 of the Criminal Code which the KMT regime used to arrest dissidents and critics of the government, and fought for “100 percent freedom of speech.”
“We also pushed to reform the legislature, for direct elections of new legislators and for direct elections for the nation’s president through popular voting by citizens. We struggled to achieve the transition to democracy, leading to society’s progress and economic prosperity. Through these past decades, DPP members have fought together with members of the public members on these efforts, for the results that people have ingrained in their hearts,” Lai said.
“In other words, the DPP is the No. 1 choice for safeguarding Taiwan’s sovereignty, as we are facing a military threat from China. We are also the foremost choice for protecting the nation’s constitutional guarantees, and upholding freedom and democracy,” he said.
Lai urged all party members to work to get people to understand the DPP’s history and past struggles, and to identify with the public’s common goals to protect democracy and peace.
“Thereby the DPP would be best positioned to garner more support from voters,” he said.
Hsu said that KMT and Taiwan People’s Party had been launching “large-scale destructive attacks” against the ruling party, the Cabinet and government agencies, as he called for “strong party unity, to work together to fight back and refute the hostile allegations and disinformation.”
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) would respond to attacks regarding government policies and programs to clarity the issues, while all elected DPP representatives and nominated candidates in local constituencies should also swiftly respond to attacks and give clear explanations to voters, Hsu said.
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