President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday criticized Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan as an insincere candi-date, saying that Lien not only concealed his assets to evade taxes, but even deceived the electorate in the election campaign itself.
Whether Lien lied during the televised presidential debate last Saturday is now becoming a hot issue on which the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is developing its attacks, and Chen decided to fuel the fires personally.
In the book, Lien Advocates which Lien wrote himself, on page 22 it says, "On our view on `one China,' the KMT's position has never changed; we accept the goal of reunification." Then, on page 23, it says, "As far as methods of integration are concerned, the confederation is one which is worth considering; it preserves the notion that there are many possible routes to reunification."
"How can Lien deny that he has stated these positions?" Chen said during the weekly meeting of the DPP's Central Standing Committee yesterday afternoon.
In his book, Chen said, Lien not only raised the confederation system, but he also proposed extending the nine-year educational program to 12 years and expanding the diversified enrolment system. But during last Saturday's televised debate, he proposed completely different policies and even denied what he had advocated in the past.
"When I made my `five noes' statement in my inauguration speech to promise of defend the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, Lien just strengthens his `five noes plus one' to display his conservative and anti-reform thinking," Chen said.
Lien's "five noes plus one," according to Chen, means that Lien does not insist on protecting Taiwan's sovereignty, does not support any kind of reform, does not believe in the 23 million Taiwanese people, is not honest in reporting his family assets and is not responsible for his policies.
"The additional `no' is that Lien does not change," Chen said. "Because his stance of supporting `one China,' his relationships with corrupt figures, his anti-democratic personality, all have not changed."
Chen also criticized the Lien family for evading taxes, providing inaccurate declarations of their assets, including the concealment of the family's overseas property. He said all this amounted to a serious deception of the people.
"Honesty is a basic requirement for one who would serve as the head of state," Chen said.
Talking about his referendum plan, Chen asked how Lien and his running mate James Soong (宋楚瑜), chairman of the People First Party (PFP), dared to advocate opposing such a historical event.
"It just proves again that the pan-blue camp is only concerned about whether they will win and ignores the question of whether Taiwan will lose," the president said.
"The Beijing authorities played the `one country two systems' trick on Hong Kong, and now the KMT-PFP alliance is trying to play the same trick in Taiwan," he added.
Meanwhile, DPP legislator Tuan Yi-kang (
Tuan cited official documents from Taipei City tax authorities on Monday to allege that Lien's daughter Lien Hui-hsin (
KMT spokesman Alex Tsai (
Tuan vowed, however, that he would end his political career if Lien proved his innocence.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS