A number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) grassroots supporters in Keelung yesterday voiced their disapproval of the party's pro-localization faction, suggesting KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
"There are `green' wolves in `blue' sheeps' clothing who publicly and vocally oppose the party and support the A-bian (
In Taiwan's political spectrum, "blue" refers to the KMT and its political allies, the People First Party (PFP) and the New Party, while "green" refers to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).
"I think the party ought to take disciplinary action on this issue," said Ho, who made the remarks during Lien's visit yesterday with KMT supporters and representatives in Keelung, where Lien made his first stop on his nationwide post-election "thanksgiving tour."
In response to Ho's comments, Lien said that the party needs people with different viewpoints.
"The party today does not need `happy sparrows' to sing words of praise," said Lien at the forum, accompanied by KMT Vice Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and party Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正). "What we need are woodpeckers to peck out the worms and tell the truth, even if the truth might be unpleasant," Lien said.
Given that the "thanksgiving tour" was designed to also floor views from grassroots party members, the number of participants at the event yesterday were not shy in expressing their opinions, with some calling on both the KMT and the PFP to "stop fooling around and to focus on the year-end legislative elections." Others urged the party to step up internal reforms, suggesting the relocation of the KMT headquarters and removing the word "Chinese" from the party's name after its merger with the PFP.
After listening to these views, Lien in his speech claimed that the March 20 election was "unfair" and accused the DPP administration of manipulating ethnic issues.
"I would say that Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his administration's biggest accomplishment so far is to have molded Taiwan into a society that is characterized by sharp divisions and confrontations," Lien said.
Lien then stressed the need for the opposition parties to remain united.
"Not only does the KMT itself need to stay united," Lien said. "The KMT, the PFP, the New Party and even independents should all stand up, come together and take steps toward merging to form a united force."
"The opposition force should not act like a pile of loose sand, because disunity between the opposition forces serves the DPP's cause," he said.
Ma also briefed the audience on the party's plan to merge with the PFP, while Lin explained the findings of the March 20 election ballots judicial recount.
Later in the afternoon, Lien took his "thanksgiving tour" to Taoyuan, accompanied by KMT vice chairmen Wu Po-hsiung (
Lien is slated to take his "thanksgiving tour" to Ilan County on Thursday and Taipei County and Hsinchu County on Friday. He is scheduled to visit Hsinchu City and Miaoli County on Saturday and Hualien and Taitung on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS