Some of the biggest news stories from this past week revolved around Taiwan’s three presidential candidates, who each announced their running mates with only about two months left to go before the elections next January.
The opposition Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, Tsai Ing-wen, was the first to unveil her pick. On Monday she announced that she has chosen Taiwan’s leading epidemiologist, Chen Chien-jen, to run for vice president on the DPP ticket.
In order to enter the race, Chen tendered his resignation as vice president of Academia Sinica, which is Taiwan’s highest research body.
Chen served as Taiwan’s health minister from 2003 to 2005. He played a crucial role in helping contain the outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).
Tsai said she was deeply impressed by Chen’s smooth handling of the SARS crisis back in 2003. She said the DPP ticket would help regain the public’s confidence.
The other two presidential candidates both announced on Wednesday that they had chosen female running mates.
KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu has chosen former labor minister Wang Ju-hsuan to run for vice president on his party’s ticket.
Wang is a well-known lawyer who is known in particular for her promotion of women’s rights, as well as the rights of laborers and other disadvantaged members of society. She has championed gender equality in the workplace, and the rights of victims of domestic abuse and sexual harassment. During her time as labor minister she also supported raising the minimum wage.
Also on Wednesday, People First Party presidential candidate James Soong announced his pick: legislator Hsu Hsin-ying.
Hsu, who is a former member of the ruling KMT, split with that party in March to found the Minkuotang (MKT). Soong said that his reasons for choosing Hsu as his running mate include her youth, her desire to form a coalition government, and her willingness to respect people from different political backgrounds.