https://www.scmp.com/rss/503304/feed Veteran Taiwanese politician James Soong, chairman of the People's First Party, is running as a presidential candidate in the 2020 Taiwan elections against incumbent president Tsai Ing-wen. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen won a second term on Saturday with a comfortable victory over Han Kuo-yu in an election that had been cast as a referendum on the island’s approach to Beijing. Tsai, from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), captured more than 8 million votes, trumping her major challenger, Han Kuo-yu, from the mainland-friendly Kuomintang by close to 3 million votes. Han, the populist mayor of Kaohsiung, conceded defeat and offered his congratulations to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045693/taiwan-elections-tsai-ing-wen-re-elected-president-victory-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045693/taiwan-elections-tsai-ing-wen-re-elected-president-victory-over?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Jan 2020 12:15:07 +0000 A Taiwanese man who had unwittingly been on a police wanted list for four years was detained at a polling station in Kaohsiung on Saturday morning after casting his vote in the island’s elections. The 46-year-old, identified only as Gong, was apprehended at a polling station at Juguang Elementary School in the city’s Nanzih district, United Daily News reported. Police said he was wanted in connection with an unspecified theft, but Gong said he was oblivious to his notoriety. The authorities had... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045668/taiwanese-man-wanted-theft-votes-himself-police-custody?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045668/taiwanese-man-wanted-theft-votes-himself-police-custody?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Jan 2020 09:03:06 +0000 Beijing might have made it more difficult for people from China’s mainland to travel to Taiwan but that did not stop three of them visiting the self-ruled island ahead of Saturday’s elections. One of them was 30-year-old small business owner Yang Yi, who said he applied for his travel permit in the few hours between Beijing announcing the restriction on July 30 and it taking effect the following day. “I am pretty worried about the relationship between the two sides over the next four years, as... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045594/taiwan-here-come-meet-mainlanders-who-bypassed-beijings-travel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045594/taiwan-here-come-meet-mainlanders-who-bypassed-beijings-travel?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Jan 2020 04:30:11 +0000 Early figures put incumbent leader Tsai Ing-wen ahead of her main rival Han Kuo-yu in the Taiwan presidential race, according to local television reports. Soon after the official count got under way – as the polls closed at 4pm – broadcaster EBC said Tsai had secured 3 million votes, or 56.6 per cent of the total, while Han had 38.8 per cent. SETN put the early split at 57 per cent for Tsai and 38.6 per cent for Han, while TVBS said Tsai had secured 3.08 million votes against Han’s 2.12... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045652/taiwan-votes-not-just-leader-way-forward-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045652/taiwan-votes-not-just-leader-way-forward-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Jan 2020 00:15:12 +0000 A mainland Chinese university study forecasting a decisive win for President Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan’s election on Saturday has been deleted from its website, hours after it was released. It concluded that Tsai, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, would garner nearly 60 per cent of the vote to defeat her two Beijing-friendly rivals and be re-elected for a second term. The study was the result of more than a year of research by a team led by Tang Shiping, a professor at the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045542/chinese-university-deletes-study-forecasting-win-tsai-ing-wen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045542/chinese-university-deletes-study-forecasting-win-tsai-ing-wen?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Jan 2020 09:00:12 +0000 On the eve of Taiwan’s elections, the major presidential contenders made their final appeals to voters in front of the presidential office in Taipei. Tens of thousands of supporters for President Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking re-election for the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), gathered in Ketagalan Boulevard on Friday evening waving pink and green party flags. “Every one of us must vote!” Tsai told the cheering crowd at the rally. “This is for the sake of the young people... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045509/taiwan-polls-kuomintangs-fight-goes-far-beyond-han-kuo-yus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045509/taiwan-polls-kuomintangs-fight-goes-far-beyond-han-kuo-yus?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Jan 2020 06:00:17 +0000 A significant number of Taiwan’s voters remain undecided days before Saturday’s presidential election, which has become a proxy for the intensifying strategic rivalry between Beijing and Washington. Between 15 and 20 per cent of voters have yet to choose their preferred presidential candidate, according to most opinion polls, and a sizeable number of them are scrutinising the two main parties’ economic policy platforms and finding them wanting. Incumbent Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045372/taiwan-voters-election-about-more-beijing-and-washington?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3045372/taiwan-voters-election-about-more-beijing-and-washington?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Jan 2020 23:00:07 +0000 “Reset Kaohsiung, defend Taiwan! Step down, Han Kuo-yu!” The rallying cry from the thousands on the streets of Kaohsiung on December 21 did not stop at opposing Han’s campaign to win the Taiwanese presidency in January 11’s elections. It was a call to recall Han as the southern city’s mayor, only a year after he was elected in stunning style. A colourful procession’s call-and-response chanting bore a similarity to a slogan from Hong Kong’s anti-government protests – “liberate Hong Kong,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3044205/landslide-win-uphill-task-year-taiwan-presidential-hopeful-han?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3044205/landslide-win-uphill-task-year-taiwan-presidential-hopeful-han?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Jan 2020 23:00:05 +0000 Chemistry student Chen Pin-yu will be voting for the first time when Taiwan heads to the polls next month, and she has already made her choice. “I’ll be giving my vote to Tsai Ing-wen because she is more capable of defending Taiwan than Han Kuo-yu or James Soong [Chu-yu],” the 21-year-old who studies at Tamkang University in Taipei said. Chen was concerned about the self-ruled island’s fate if President Tsai was not re-elected. “Given their pro-China stand, I believe Han and Soong would turn a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3043837/battle-hearts-and-minds-young-voters-may-prove-crucial-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3043837/battle-hearts-and-minds-young-voters-may-prove-crucial-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Dec 2019 22:00:18 +0000 Veteran Taiwanese politician James Soong Chu-yu announced on Wednesday that he would make a fourth attempt to seek the presidency in a blow to Beijing’s hopes for a unified mainland-friendly challenge to President Tsai Ing-wen. The 77-year-old chairman of the People’s First Party remains an influential figure in the opposition “pan-blue” camp, and his decision to stand is another headache for the Kuomintang candidate Han Kuo-yu, who is believed by many analysts to be Beijing’s preferred... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3037598/veteran-taiwan-politician-james-soong-seek-presidency-blow?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3037598/veteran-taiwan-politician-james-soong-seek-presidency-blow?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Nov 2019 13:36:39 +0000 Taiwan’s perennial presidential candidate James Soong Chu-yu is considering a 2020 run for the island’s top post, in what would be his fourth attempt since his candidacy split the mainland-friendly vote and paved the way for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s first electoral success 20 years earlier. The development followed the withdrawal from the January race of another stalwart of Taiwan politics, former vice-president and DPP co-founder Annette Lu Hsiu-lien, who accused her old party... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3036264/taiwans-james-soong-chu-yu-may-join-presidential-race-annette?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3036264/taiwans-james-soong-chu-yu-may-join-presidential-race-annette?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Nov 2019 12:00:15 +0000 When James Soong Chu-yu announced last year he was going to run for the Taiwanese presidency, some bigwigs at the beleaguered Kuomintang might have lamented: Oh, come on, not again. That’s because the participation of the 73-year-old once-popular KMT governor and present chairman of the small opposition People First Party has a history of sabotaging the century-old party by splitting the vote of the pro-unification camp. In 2000, Soong’s defection from the KMT to run as an independent candidate... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1901830/taiwans-james-soong-perennial-candidate-and-loser?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1901830/taiwans-james-soong-perennial-candidate-and-loser?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Jan 2016 12:01:22 +0000 A 73-year-old Taiwanese politician announced on Thursday he would run for president in January, likely acting as a spoiler boosting the chances of the independence-leaning opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival to win. James Soong is chairman of the People First Party (PFP), a splinter party he formed 15 years ago that has been siphoning members of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), unhappy with political infighting and its unpopularity over a perceived creeping dependence on giant... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1847043/taiwan-splinter-candidate-james-soong-announces-bid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1847043/taiwan-splinter-candidate-james-soong-announces-bid?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Aug 2015 07:30:00 +0000