Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said she had no reason to apologize after a popular TV host used expletives at an event hosted by pro-localization groups over the weekend.
Talking Show host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) called President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) “gutless” and used the term “motherfucker” at an outdoor rally on Sunday night sponsored by the Taiwan Rescue Action Alliance when commenting about government subsidies for Chinese students.
Cheng has apologized for his choice of words, saying that they were not to be taken personally and that he made them on the spur of the moment when speaking in front of thousands of pro-independence stalwarts. He said he was outraged by the Ma administration’s cross-strait policies that pay more subsidies for Chinese students than Taiwanese students.
Photo: Wang Shan-yen, Taipei Times
Senior Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials have called on Tsai to apologize personally for Cheng’s remarks, even though they came some time before DPP candidate for Greater Taichung mayor Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) took the stage to speak to the crowd.
KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said the remarks were the latest in a long line of gaffes made by figures connected to the DPP.
Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said he wanted to know if Tsai approved of DPP supporters using profane language and swearing at people who did not agree with them.
Lo said Tsai should also tell the public how much the former DPP administration paid in monthly subsidies to Chinese students on short-term study programs when she served as Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) chief.
The council said in a statement on Monday that Chinese students were receiving monthly stipends when the DPP was in power. However, the council neglected to mention that the initiative began in 1996 under the then-KMT government.
Lo said he also wanted to know why Tsai allowed such coarse language.
“Isn’t she obliged to restrain or rebuke such vulgarity,” he said. “How can she turn a deaf ear to such language that is so humiliating to women and not say a word simply because the person who said it is a DPP supporter?”
At a campaign event in Bali (八里), Taipei County, Tsai, who is running for mayor of the soon-to be-formed Sinbei City, said Cheng’s remarks had been “inappropriate,” but she saw no reason to apologize since Cheng was not a party member and the event had not been organized by the DPP.
“We shouldn’t be accusing each other [on such issues], but sit down and reflect on why such a thing would happen and whether it was because our society is too partisan,” she said.
Tsai said the DPP government had also given Chinese graduate students in Taiwan a monthly subsidy, but when the subsidies were first established, Chinese students were not allowed to apply to Taiwanese universities and had to be selected on an individual basis.
“Times have changed ... With the government ready to open our borders to large numbers of Chinese students, we would be looking at whether to discontinue the program if the DPP were in power,” she said.
Meanwhile, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the Ma government had reduced the subsidy from NT$42,000 to NT$30,000, while the subsidy for Taiwanese graduate students studying in China — financed by the MAC administered Chinese Development Fund — was raised to NT$46,000 from NT$41,000.
Wu urged Tsai to condemn Cheng instead of trying to distance herself from his remarks.
Asked if he supported suspending the subsidy for Chinese students as some lawmakers have suggested, Wu said he would tell the MAC and the Ministry of Education to deliberate on the issue.
“The subsidy has been in place for more than 10 years. It was a living allowance for mainland graduates during their stay in Taiwan for one or two months,” he said. “There are also our students doing research in the mainland. It’s not that we have to continue with the policy, but that we will have them make further considerations.”
Later in the day, a group of more than 10 KMT hopefuls for city councilor positions in the Nov. 27 special municipality elections filed a class action lawsuit against Cheng with the Taichung District Court. They said Cheng had publicly smeared the government and plotted to make KMT Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) lose his bid for re-election.
Observers said extensive media coverage of Cheng’s remarks might drive away swing voters from the DPP camp.
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