Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday rejected a parallel drawn by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) between her expectation of Taiwan as a “free island” (自由島) and the government’s free economic pilot zone policy.
Tsai made the rebuttal in a press release issued on Facebook yesterday, one day after Ma raised a question during the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee’s meeting on Wednesday about a speech Tsai gave at the Morgan Stanley Asia-Pacific Summit in Singapore in November last year.
In the speech, Tsai said Taiwan must position itself as a “free island” that boasts a liberalized economy, a diverse culture and a democratic political system, if it aspires to continue to play a key and constructive role in the Asia-Pacific region.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
“This part of the speech sounds fairly professional. People who are not aware of the identity of the speaker might even think she is some academic supportive of the government’s proposed free economic pilot zones project … since no one can really tell how [Tsai’s] goal is any different from the goal the government is endeavoring to achieve by setting up the pilot zones,” Ma said at the meeting.
The free economic pilot zone project aims to set up zones in Keelung Port, Suao Port in Yilan County, Taipei Port, Taichung Port, Anping Port in Greater Tainan, Kaohsiung Port, the Taoyuan Aerotropolis in Taoyuan County and the Pingtung Agricultural Biotechnology Park to serve as models for business convenience and liberalization.
Tsai, who has repeatedly taken issue with the project, criticizing it as an “empty policy,” yesterday said Ma had taken her words out of context.
“I clearly stated during my speech that the ‘free island’ initiative is built on three pillars: a liberalized economy, a diverse culture and a democratic political system, as there is no way Taiwan could ever maintain a strong foothold in the Asia-Pacific region if it only cares about trade liberalization,” she said.
The “free island” initiative seeks a balanced development of all the three pillars, while Ma’s oft-touted initiative of a “free economic island” only emphasizes economic development, she said.
“Our goals are on two totally different levels… Ma should have understood the main points of my speech before quoting me out of context,” Tsai said.
“He also should not have drawn a parallel between my initiative and his narrow-minded plan to try to gloss over the poor examples that have been set by the free economic pilot zone project,” Tsai added.
Meanwhile, National Taiwan University Hospital physician Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — an independent aspirant for the Taipei mayoral election in November — was canvassing the streets around the Shuang Lian Traditional Market in Taipei’s Datong District (大同) yesterday morning.
The event was held hours before the DPP was due to conduct a public opinion poll last night on whether Ko or DPP Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) would be a better pan-green camp candidate for the mayoral election.
The poll results are scheduled to be announced today.
‘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 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
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS