Former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) denied that he supported the drive to oust President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) launched by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德).
When questioned by the press yesterday morning about whether he thought the president should step down, Lee said it is up to Chen and added that it was not a good idea for Chen to meet him.
In a lecture given at the Lee Teng-hui School in Kaohsiung yesterday morning, Lee said: "I will not intervene in the recent political development. What newspapers said about me are all nonsense and has nothing to do with me. Some people just want to use me to attack the president."
While declining to say he supported the campaign aiming to unseat Chen, Lee however panned the current government as "irresponsible and ineffective" and responsible for the country's democratization coming to a standstill. He also raised several mistakes that he believed Chen had made over the past five years.
Lee denounced Chen's "four noes" pledge as a major obstacle for the nation's democratization, saying that if the government still uses the "Republic of China" as Taiwan's official name, the country cannot move forward.
"It was so stupid for the government to make such a stupid vow," Lee said.
Lee also criticized the scandals surrounding Chen's in-laws, saying a president's responsibility is to serve the people rather than gaining privileges or money for his relatives.
Later last night in his speech delivered at the Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) fifth anniversary celebration in Kaohsiung, Lee, rather than criticizing Chen, questioned the Cabinet's cross-strait policy.
Lee said that the Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development held late last month was totally unnecessary and the conclusions reached at the conference would not only hurt Taiwan but also benefit China.
"The people who have power now are disconnected from people's lives," Lee said. "I don't see why the Executive Yuan implements policies that run counter to public opinion."
During the anniversary celebration, the TSU promoted candidates running for the year-end elections.
The TSU also held a fund-raising banquet with about 6,000 supporters in attendance.
To highlight the party's goal of pushing for a new constitution, the party also held a simulated constitutional referendum at the celebration.
One by one, attendees voted in the mock referendum on whether a presidential system or parliamentary system best suits the country.
TSU Chairman Shu Chin-chiang (蘇進強) last night vowed that the drawing up of a new constitution would be the pan-green camp's major task over the next two years.
The TSU's candidate for the Taipei mayoral election Clara Chou (周玉蔻), Kaohsiung mayoral election candidate Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) and all the candidates standing as city councilors attended the celebration, along with DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and Kaohsiung acting mayor Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭).
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS