Taiwan is not democratic since the political power structure reproduces itself and is in the hands of just a few families, Taipei mayoral aspirant Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said.
Ko made the remarks at a book launch for Chinese dissident writer Yuan Hongbing’s (袁紅冰) latest, Taiwan Shengsi Shu — Taiwan Book of Death.
Ko praised the Sunflower movement, but also offered critiques.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“There were no clear causes during the movement. The slogans were mostly ‘anti-’ something, such as the anti-service trade pact and the [later] anti-Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, while we need positive listing of our values,” Ko said.
Calling President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) so-called “92 consensus” a scam, Ko said that a “Taiwan consensus,” echoing former Democratic Progressive Party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), is the nation’s best direction.
“It should be based on the nation’s fundamental, core values, and I believe they are democracy, freedom, the rule of law, human rights, care for vulnerable groups and sustainable development,” he said.
He questioned the manifestation of these values in the nation, saying: “If Taiwan is a democratic country, my father wouldn’t have been that afraid when I said I’m running for office. He said he didn’t want to lose a son after losing his father in the 228 Incident.”
“And while in a democracy, politics should be shared by the people, we now have all those second-generation of the rich and the powerful hogging the social and political stage, like it is in China,” he said. “From Ma through Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) to Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文), are they not all second-generation politicians? Some are even third-generation, almost like North Korea.”
“Freedom? We don’t even have the freedom to donate,” he said, referring to government claims that personal financial donations to the student protest were illegal.
Ko also panned KMT policy on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, saying that as a surgeon at National Taiwan University Hospital, “I can assure you that there is no plan in place for a nuclear disaster,” adding, “The KMT treats this place as a hotel without the idea of perpetual and sustainable development. That’s why they opt for the plant.”
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS