Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwanese Election Campaign Ads

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For the upcoming combined Presidential and Legislative Yuan elections in Taiwan (Jan 14th 2012), both the main political parties (pro-China KMT and pro-Taiwan DPP) have been busy producing video content so as to get their campaign messages across to a nation that increasingly receives much of its news online. Both parties are using a mixture of humorous and serious approaches. Below is a selection of what I think are the slickest and most memorable campaign videos.

Statue honors Okinawans who died in 228 Incident

Taipei Times

Keelung mayor Chang Tong-rong, center left, and Japan's Miyakojima mayor Toshihiko Shimoji, center right, shake hand after unveiling a statue to commemorate Okinawa fishers who died during the 228 Incident in 1947 during a ceremony in Keelung yesterday.

Photo: Loa Iok-sin, Taipei Times

Braving strong winds, rain and waves pounding the shore, officials and residents from Keelung and Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture yesterday jointly unveiled a statue of an Okinawan fisherman with cheers, music and words of friendship to commemorate Okinawans who died during the 228 Incident.

The ceremony started with a Buddhist rite, hosted by the head monk from Seikoji Temple in Okinawa, at Wanshantang — a small temple with urns containing bones and ashes of people of unknown identity or those who died without descendants — near the monument on Keelung’s Heping Island (和平島), which is just off Taiwan proper.

2012 ELECTIONS: Tsai says sorry for persimmon mix-up

Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen apologized for an inaccurate picture that was used in campaign material yesterday.

Photo: Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday apologized for an inaccurate picture that was used in campaign material in an attempt to end a week-long battle of rhetoric between the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over the prices of different persimmons.

In a recent campaign flyer printed in the format of a calendar, the DPP listed a dozen types of locally grown fruits, among them persimmons, that have plunged in price this year.

Farmers poor in Ma’s fruit kingdom

Taipei Times Editorial

Amid the ongoing wrangle between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) over the price of persimmons and other fruits, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Tuesday visited a traditional market in Greater Taichung to demonstrate his concern about the issue.

At the market, Ma bought about 5,000kg of persimmons as a gesture of support for the farmers, as well as to counter the DPP’s claim that fruit prices have plummeted.

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