Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said that it would be a “lie” to say that she had put the controversy over her failed presidential bid completely behind her.
Speaking at the Taipei launch of her book, Unfinished Presidential Road, Hung said: “I wish the title of the book were different from what it is now. I would be lying if I said I am not sorry [over how things turned out], but I have to say I have no regrets or complaints.”
Hung was referring to the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) decision to rescind her candidacy in mid-October, almost three months after her nomination as the party’s official candidate on July 19. Citing her low poll ratings, the KMT replaced her with party Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫).
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Hung said she had “vigorously visited different places when she was the candidate although [her] legs are short.”
“Under the young master [shaoye, 少爺], we now have a different and better fate,” she said, referring to Chu, betraying a hint of bitterness with her choice of words. “I have finished off the bitter days for him. I hope he can fare better down the road.”
Asked whether she has been invited to the opening of Chu’s campaign headquarters on Saturday, Hung said she had not yet received an invitation.
“However, that is a good day [according to the traditional calendar], so even if I am invited, I would go to those places where I am needed the most, such as the party’s legislative candidates’ rallies, as Chu’s event would certainly be crowded by heavyweights,” she said.
Hung also reiterated her cross-strait policy, saying that although it is not wrong to uphold “one China, different interpretations,” it could only maintain a fragile cross-strait relationship, but not a stable one.
“It is a pity that the idea did not have the ear of our comrades, and that is what I find the most regretful,” she said.
Hung had championed the new idea of “one China, same interpretation” during her campaign, which was also one of the reasons she was ousted, as KMT headquarters viewed it as “going against mainstream public opinion.”
She said she also found it extremely upsetting when she was discouraged by others, saying that Taiwanese are “gullible and difficult to teach,” when she was trying to promote her ideas.
“If [the saying] is true, then it all the more needs to be changed,” Hung said.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS