President Lai to kick off tour to meet party officials as DPP chair

Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) will embark on a Taiwan-wide tour as chairman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) starting Saturday, meeting local government officials, councilors, party members and supporters, the DPP said Friday.

The tour, first mentioned last week by DPP spokesperson Han Ying (韓瑩) as being planned for newly appointed party Secretary-General Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), begins in Keelung on Saturday, with Lai accompanying Hsu on the first two days.

Lai and Hsu will visit Chin Chi Temple in Keelung's Qidu District on Saturday and meet local government and party officials, as well as members of Lai's supporters' group, in a closed-door meeting, a DPP official said.

They will then travel to Taipei to visit two temples, followed by a second closed-door meeting at party headquarters later that day.

On Sunday, Lai and Hsu will visit temples and hold meetings first in Hsinchu City and then in Taoyuan, the DPP official said.

Lai took questions during a meeting with DPP city and county councilors from around Taiwan at party headquarters on Wednesday and conveyed the message that Taiwan is doing well compared with neighboring countries socially and economically, the DPP official said.

On Friday, when asked if Lai will take part in the whole tour and visit all 22 counties and cities around Taiwan, Hsu told reporters that he would respect Lai's decision on that and make arrangements accordingly.

As the tour is considered to be part of the party's preparation for the 2026 local government elections, Hsu sidestepped reporters' questions about whether the DPP will change its strategy, saying only that every political party will campaign across Taiwan for the same reason.

In the 2022 local government elections, the DPP saw the number of local governments it controlled reduced to five after losing mayoral races in Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu cities and only gaining the seat of Penghu County magistrate.

Then-President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) resigned as DPP chair following the election setback, and Lai was elected party chair in January 2023.