Former vice secretary of the National Security Council (NSC) Parris Chang (張旭成) recently wrote in the Formosa Post (玉山周報) that NSC Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) visited China in 2005 when he was serving as a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator and that he was looked after by the Chinese government.
During his stay, he gave a speech at a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) school in which he spoke out against the US government’s sale of military items to Taiwan, a move that caused the US to suspect Su’s allegiance, Chang said.
TAKEN CARE OF
Chang said that apart from staying at a residence for senior party officials for three days, Su also made a speech to dozens of senior party members, leaders of the People’s Liberation Army and other senior national defense officials.
Chang said that Su openly attacked the US for selling military supplies to Taiwan and also criticized Washington for interfering in the peaceful resolution of cross-strait affairs. Chang said that this made the US suspicious of Su’s political opinions.
Su, who is currently in Panama with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), rejected Chang’s accusation, saying that his opposition to arms procurements was based on a referendum that showed a majority of Taiwanese did not approve of the sale.
Su said that he stood by his opposition, adding that he always showed respect for democracy, whether in Taiwan, China or the US.
SECURITY
Meanwhile, reporters asked Ma during an interview whether he felt Su’s younger brother, Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽), had jeopardized national security by teaching constitutional law at China’s Zhejiang University.
Ma said that he “didn’t see that causing any problems at all.”
Ma said that Su Chi’s younger brother was an academic in public and civil law and that he had visited Beijing University and Tsinghua University several times as a professional, adding that his visits had nothing to do with the secretary-general.
Su Chi was also criticized after his wife, Chen Yue-ching (陳月卿), went to Beijing in April to promote her book.
Ma said Chen already promised that she would not go to China again.
Meanwhile, Su Chi said that Taiwan was a modern society in which everyone is entitled to freedom and that mutual respect is necessary.
He said he keeps his professional and private lives separate and does not talk to his wife about his work.
He also said that his wife does not talk to him about her affairs and that brothers and sisters may not necessarily know everything about each other.
Su Chi said this was what a modern society entails, compared with a feudal society, in which everyone would know one another’s business.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail