Taipei: President Lai Ching-te 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.

According to Focus Taiwan, the tour, initially mentioned by DPP spokesperson Han Ying as being planned for newly appointed party Secretary-General Hsu Kuo-yung, 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.

The itinerary will then take them to Taipei, where they will visit two temples, followed by a second closed-door meeting at party headquarters later that day. On Sunday, their tour continues with temple visits and meetings in Hsinchu City and Taoyuan.

Lai recently engaged with DPP city and county councilors from around Taiwan at party headquarters, communicating that Taiwan is performing well socially and economically compared to neighboring countries. On Friday, when asked about Lai's full participation in the tour across all 22 counties and cities in Taiwan, Hsu stated he would respect Lai's decision and make arrangements accordingly.

The tour is seen as part of the DPP's preparations for the 2026 local government elections. Hsu refrained from discussing potential strategy changes following the 2022 local election results, where the DPP's control was reduced to five local governments after losing key mayoral races and only securing the Penghu County magistrate seat. Then-President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as DPP chair after the elections, leading to Lai's election as party chair in January 2023.