Taiwan's Presidential Campaign Enters Final Stretch

Taiwan's presidential candidates have all formally registered for the election, and campaigning has now entered the final stretch.

Transcript

00:00 Dear friends,

00:02 Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party is tackling the hardest bits first.

00:08 The country's east coast is a stronghold for their rivals, the Kuomintang.

00:12 But going into this election, the DPP has a secret weapon.

00:16 And her name is Xiao-Bi Kim.

00:19 Back in 2016, she won a legislative seat in Hualien County,

00:23 the first from the DPP to ever pull that off.

00:26 Now she's back, running for vice president.

00:29 But the outcome shows that around these parts, she's still got it.

00:33 The party hopes her popularity will translate to votes for her running mate, Lai Ching-de,

00:37 and give it control of the presidency for four more years.

00:41 Lai has even gone solo in the east, venturing beyond Xiao's former district to campaign.

00:46 His message is that with him in charge,

00:49 education in this rural part of Taiwan will no longer be left behind.

00:53 The government has cut all the tuition fees.

00:56 The family's total income is less than NT$70,000.

00:59 Children, whether in school or college,

01:02 the government pays NT$20,000 a year.

01:05 Between NT$70,000 and NT$50,000, the government pays NT$15,000 a year.

01:09 Taiwan's opposition, split into two camps,

01:12 is bouncing back after coalition talks collapsed on Friday.

01:15 Though rivals, both are saving the brunt of their criticism for the DPP, their common enemy.

01:21 The Kuomintang's Hou Youyi hit the DPP where he thinks it will hurt, their approach to China.

01:27 China claims Taiwan as its territory,

01:29 and ties between the countries have become deeply strained

01:32 during the China-weary DPP's control of the presidency.

01:35 If the ruling party continues to talk about its cross-strait policy,

01:39 it will only be about Lai Ching-de's pearl milk tea.

01:44 Meanwhile, Taiwan People's Party candidate Kou Wen-je is courting the youth vote.

01:49 He wants to be the first third-party candidate in history to win Taiwan's presidency,

01:54 and he sees relatively new voters as key to getting there.

01:58 We have very little support for people over 50.

02:01 We need to turn every young person into a family-wide thinker,

02:06 and influence their elders through them.

02:09 There's not much time left to change minds, though.

02:12 The election is January 13th, less than 50 days away.

02:16 With the party's candidate registration over, it's now a scramble to the finish.

02:21 Dolphin Chen and John Ventreeste for Taiwan Plus.

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