JOURNEY:The DPP’s presidential team aims to garner support on an 11-day trip from the southernmost tip of Taiwan, ending with a big rally in Taipei on Oct. 16
By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter, in Pingtung County
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her running mate, Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), yesterday embarked on a 500km campaign trip that would take them through 79 townships in 14 counties on the nation’s west coast in 11 days, in hopes of securing more support in the run-up to the January presidential election.
With the famous landmark Oluanpi Lighthouse in the background, Tsai and Su began their trip on the southernmost tip of Taiwan after a group of Paiwan Aborigines performed traditional rituals and presented the pair with stones representing land, wisdom and courage.
“I’ve always cherished the memory of coming down here — the nation’s southernmost tip — with my father to enjoy the fantastic view of the ocean,” Tsai said. “This is a perfect place to start the trip and try to awaken the Taiwanese people’s passion.”
The nation needs a lighthouse like the one at Oluanpi to point it in the right direction, she added.
Tsai and Su are scheduled to travel along Provincial Highway No. 1, known as “Taiwan’s artery” in the 1960s and 1970s because it was the main highway connecting the country’s north and south on the west coast, from Oluanpi to Taipei.
“I’m sure we will see beautiful things as well as unpleasant ones during the trip,” Tsai said.
She added that seeing the social and regional development imbalance across the nation could be unpleasant, but that witnessing the people’s hardworking spirit in the face of adversity would be a beautiful experience.
The trip will demonstrate the DPP’s determination to side with the Taiwanese and try to improve the country, she added.
She said she hoped that the trip could generate more support for the DPP in the presidential as well as the legislative elections.
The group was to spend the first two days in Pingtung County, where both Tsai and Su hail from, and then spend another two days in Greater Kaohsiung, before moving on to central and northern Taiwan.
The campaign trip will conclude on Oct. 16 with a large rally at Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in front of the Presidential Office.
Tsai received a hero’s welcome in her hometown of Fangshan (枋山). Speaking to hundreds of local supporters in front of a temple, Tsai said she hoped that Fangshan would be the “hometown of Taiwan’s first female president” after Jan. 14 — election day.
Later in the evening in Fangliao (枋寮), Tsai was welcomed with cheers and firecrackers by hundreds of residents.
Tsai spoke about reviving the local economy, one of her top economic policies, creating jobs and building a “fair government” at a culture park that was transformed from an old railway station.