The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is aiming to have the least expensive presidential election campaign, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday, after the party was reported to have achieved little success in fundraising with KMT presidential candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) on the ballot.
“For the upcoming general election, we would set a new record for the least amount of campaign funds spent. What we are counting on is favors and friendships from the people. Our campaign staff members at different localities hold rallies by themselves without spending funds from campaign headquarters,” Chu told reporters on the sideline of a campaign event for the party’s legislative candidate Chang Szu-kang (張斯綱) in Taipei.
The party is to hold 17 campaign rallies nationwide from until the election day, Chu said.
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
“The KMT does not have many resources, and Hou’s campaign headquarters would not raise funds and depend mainly on small donations from independent voters and grassroots support,” he said.
Chu said that the general election this year is “a choice between war and peace.”
“The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] has ruled the country for almost eight years, during which the government has been plagued with scandals, corruption and injustice,” Chu said. “This is also a choice for honesty, fairness and justice. When Hou is elected, he would definitely resume the operation of the Special Investigation Division to address the injustice and build an honest government again.”
Chu also criticized Vice President and DPP presidential candidate William Lai (賴清德), saying that people should be concerned about Lai’s support for an independent Taiwan.
“No US government official or US think tank agrees with or supports Taiwan’s independence, and yet Lai is known for being the golden grandson of pro-independence activists and a pragmatic activist for Taiwan independence,” he said.
All articles published by US think tanks are about how a pro-Taiwan independence candidate would affect and harm the world situation. This is the question that people should seriously ponder,” Chu said.
Separately yesterday in response to media queries for comment regarding the KMT’s campaign fundraising, Taiwan’s People Party chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said he believed Chu for saying that KMT would spend the least amount of campaign funds compared with previous elections.
“They used to have more than NT$10 billion [US$317.7 million] at their disposal, but now they can only make do with just a few billion [new Taiwan dollars]. Of course, the campaign funds they can use are much less,” Ko said.
Additional reporting by CNA
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RSS