Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday questioned former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) influence in the next presidential election, and added that it was during Lee’s presidency that the nation’s political culture became rife with corruption and gangsters.
In an interview with China Television Co, Wu said that Lee’s recent call for people to vote for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) rather than President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in January’s election would “work on a tiny minority.”
Wu, picked as Ma’s running mate, also called for solidarity between People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), saying that a “lack of unity” was a symptom indicating the possibility of failure for the party.
During the interview, to be broadcast tomorrow, Wu said the 88-year-old former president “doesn’t keep abreast of developments in society because of his age” when he was asked to assess how Lee’s support for Tsai would help boost her election chances.
“Lee has made a contribution to democracy in Taiwan, but he also created a burden to its development,” Wu said, adding that it was during Lee’s presidency that political culture became riddled with corruption and gangsters, known as “black gold” politics.
Lee does not fully agree with Tsai’s policies, judging by his noncommittal attitude when asked by reporters to comment on her “nuclear-free homeland” policy, Wu added.
Wu also criticized Lee for sayting that Japan holds jurisdiction over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), which are also claimed by Taiwan and China.
On the reported rift within the pan-blue camp over how to file joint nominations for the legislative elections in January and news reports alleging the KMT has demanded Soong return NT$240 million (US$8.342 million) he allegedly took from the party in 1999, Wu said the KMT must unite with the PFP to win the presidential election.
Wu said that Ma has not been able to get in touch with Soong on the telephone in the past month to set up a meeting to discuss cooperation between the two parties in the elections.
“On several occasions, President Ma was on hold when [KMT Secretary-General Liao Liou-yi (廖了以)] was trying to reach Soong. I was there,” Wu said.
It has come to Ma’s attention that he could have interacted more with Soong in the past three years, but Ma has been so consumed by his job he hasn’t had a chance to do so, Wu said.
“President Ma has been addicted to his job, as he works 17 hours a day, seven days a week, so he was not good at interacting with the PFP,” Wu said.
Commenting on Wu’s remarks regarding “black gold” politics, DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said it “reeked of political interference in the judiciary,” but pointed out that the allegations of corruption during Lee’s administration involved only KMT officials.
“It has nothing to the with the DPP — in fact, President Ma Ying-jeou, who was at the ministry of justice at the time, should take the ultimate responsibility for any failures to eradicate corruption,” Chen said.
“The KMT is shooting itself in the foot by mentioning any ‘black gold’ corruption,” he added.
Meanwhile, Wang Yan-chun (王燕軍), a close aide to Lee, said that Wu needed to provide evidence to back up his remarks, adding that “they shouldn’t criticize the wrong guy.”
“Let’s see the evidence. Without evidence, Wu shouldn’t be making baseless allegations,” said Wang, the secretary-general of the think tank Taiwan Advocates.
Additional reporting by Vincent Y. Chao
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS