President 
Lai Ching-te campaigned in Taitung on September 6 for the Democratic Progressive Party's magistrate candidate, Chen Ying, taking a veiled jab at a farm-road scandal around her Kuomintang rival Wu Hsiu-hua's family. At Taitung's Tianhou Temple, where he offered incense and said he hoped Mazu would keep Taiwan free of disasters, Lai also rallied Weng Sheng-hui, the party's candidate for Taitung City mayor, and other DPP nominees for public office.
What did the president ask of Chen? Lai praised Chen's work for Taitung in the Legislative Yuan as "number one" and her grasp of indigenous rights and the county's construction needs, then asked her to keep three commitments if she becomes magistrate, CNA reported. The first was to be clean, diligent and devoted to her home county, spending every cent of the budget on residents and local construction and never opening a road "at your own front door." The second was to be "Taitung's daughter," caring warmly for everyone regardless of ethnic group, sex or age. The third was to draw on her years as a legislator, which he said had left her knowing her way around the central government, to win central resources suited to Taitung's needs.
What was the road remark about? The line alluded to the "Dongying Resort" farm-road scandal that had recently broken around Wu's family, CNA reported. The remark, heavy with sarcasm, drew rounds of laughter and applause.
How did Wu's campaign respond? Wu's campaign headquarters, in a response reported by CNA, said what mattered most on the president's visit was not whom he stood on stage for, but that he truly go into Taitung and listen to residents. It reminded the central government that successive downpours had recently hit Taitung, and that flooding, crop losses and the safety of roads and bridges were the problems residents faced most directly every day. Such problems could not be solved by a single line of "God bless Taiwan," the campaign said, but needed central funding and concrete action. It pledged to stand on the front line for whatever Taitung residents need, whichever party or central agency it faces.
Figures referenced: Lai Ching-te. — JudgeMarket.
