Government officials and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday rushed to slam Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) for calling the Republic of China (ROC) a government-in-exile while the DPP defended Tsai, saying her remark was taken out of context.
Tsai on Tuesday suggested in a speech at a book launch that from Taiwan’s perspective, the ROC government was a Chinese authoritarian government that had dominated Taiwanese politics for the last six decades. However, she also said that in the past few decades, with the rise of Taiwan’s democracy movement and replacement of Chinese interests with Taiwanese interests, the ROC government had become both legitimate and sovereign.
The KMT-led government, however, reacted strongly.
“Tsai’s comments belittled national dignity. It was a serious blunder that reflected self-denial and an opposition party of a democratic country should not hold such a stance,” Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said.
Lo accused Tsai of attracting support from extremists in the pan-green camp through rhetoric.
He also urged her not to manipulate the issue of national identity for campaign purposes, ahead of the November special muncipality elections.
“It was the first time Chairperson Tsai gave her stance on the status of the ROC. We are sorry that she chose to attract the support of deep-green supporters,” he said.
The term “government in exile” refers to a temporary organization with no authority to rule the country, Lo said, while the ROC government has enjoyed the authority to reign over Taiwan.
The “Resolution on Taiwan’s Future,” proclaimed by the DPP in 1999, also acknowledged Taiwan’s title as “ROC” in the Constitution, Lo said, adding Tsai’s comments were clearly contrary to reality.
“Did the former DPP government rule the country illegally for the past eight years? Does Tsai, as the DPP’s candidate in Sinbei City, decide to abandon her moderate approach?” Lo said.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said Tsai’s remark was “shocking,” and she should know what an exiled government means.
“She was once the ROC’s vice premier and Mainland Affairs Council chairwoman. Was she on the payroll of a government in exile?” Wu said.
Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said some academics used to refer to the ROC government as a “government in exile,” but the official view is the “ROC government is the ROC government.”
KMT lawmakers questioned whether Tsai was crazy.
“When I first heard the remark, I thought it came from [former president] Chen Shui-bian [陳水扁]. [Did she make the remark] because she was possessed by Chen?” KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) said.
KMT Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said the ROC would never be an exiled government because it has all the characteristics of an independent nation.
KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) urged Tsai to apologize for her blunder.
Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), director of the DPP’s Department of International Affairs, yesterday downplayed Tsai’s remarks, saying they were taken out of context.
Tsai was referring to historical events instead of the ROC’s current status, Hsiao added.
On what Tsai originally meant by her comments, Hsiao said: “The ROC did come to Taiwan as a government-in-exile in 1949, but in the last 60 years through our pursuit for and subsequent exercise of democracy … we can proudly say that Taiwan is a sovereign country. The [government] took Tsai’s remarks out of context and completely distorted the meaning.”
Standing behind Tsai’s comments, DPP caucus whip Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said that, based on the Treaty of San Francisco, Taiwan’s status has remained undetermined in the post-World War II period.
“It’s correct to say that the [ROC] government was at the time a government-in-exile, the KMT had no basis for governing Taiwan [following the war],” Chai said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG, LOA IOK-SIN AND CNA
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 —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
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