By labeling independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and his family “descendants of the Japanese emperor’s loyal subjects” and “traitors to the Han race,” two prominent Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) veterans have infuriated many people, critics said yesterday.
Long-time political activist Shih Ming-te (施明德), a former Democratic Progressive Party chairman who left the party in 1999, and National Chengchi University Taiwanese literature professor Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明) said that the attacks by have humiliated not only Ko, but all Taiwanese.
Former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) and former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) have called Ko the descendant of “the Japanese emperor’s loyal subjects” and implied that his family were traitors.
In his column yesterday for the Chinese-language Apple Daily, Shih blasted Lien Chan, Hau and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who have separately described Ko as “a bastard,” “a descendant of the Japanese emperor’s loyal subjects” and “a demon.”
“Whom God would destroy, he first makes mad,” Shih wrote.
“Though [KMT Taipei mayoral candidate] Sean Lien (連勝文) himself is gentle and polite, he would not be himself if he were elected as Taipei mayor. The party’s old factions need him to play the role of the umbilical cord and that of a locomotive to secure their hold on power. He would also be the key to whether the Lien family could continue its special relationship with Beijing,” Shih said.
It is not surprising that these KMT politicians started to go “wacky” when they realized the party might lose the Taipei race, he said.
“All of a sudden, terms like ‘demon,’ ‘emperor’s loyal subjects,’ or ‘the war for survival of the Republic of China’ sprang up. Their use shows that these speakers have taken Taiwanese to be enemies and an enemy state,” Shih said. “They have not only humiliated Ko, but all Taiwanese. The thirst for power makes people mad.”
In a Facebook posting, Chen castigated Lien Chan and Hau for what he called their “humiliation of all Taiwanese.”
“Calling Taiwanese ‘traitors of the Han race’ and ‘the Japanese emperor’s loyal subjects’ was part of the official language of the KMT regime when it first set foot on Taiwan after World War II. It was extremely demeaning and cruel, and had bloodily separated Taiwanese and the Mainlanders, as newcomers. It ignited the 228 Incident in the end,” Chen wrote.
“The historical memory has been the common nightmare of Taiwanese society and it was not until former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) apologized to the public for the KMT’s actions in the 1990s and the government started a series of measures to compensate the victims, publicize the historical documents and establish monuments that the related conflicts were allayed,” he wrote.
The wound has been reopened, he said, adding that not only did Ko face attack, the government’s official apology was also shattered.
“Taiwanese did not choose to become Japanese, but were cursorily ceded to Japan without Taiwanese consent when China was not able to protect itself,” Chen said.
He said it reminded him of Boule de Suif, a short story by French writer Guy de Maupassant, which tells of a young woman named Boule de Suif (Butterball), who is captured with others in a carriage as they flee an invaded town. Butterball is pressured to sleep with one of the captors in exchange for the group’s freedom.
She eventually complies with the demands of the officer and her travel partners. Despite having sacrificed her dignity for them, Butterball faces disdain from the other travelers after they are freed.
“It is the dark side of the humanity, and Lien Chan and Hau have demonstrated it. They despise Taiwanese and look at those who lived under Japanese colonial rule through the lenses of racial discrimination,” Chen said.
Lien Chan lied by claiming that his grandfather left Taiwan for China to fight against Japan, Chen said.
“Lien Ya-tang (連雅堂) never did that. Those Taiwanese who fought against Japan stayed and were slaughtered by the KMT in the 228 Incident, when Lien Chan’s father, Lien Chen-dong (連震東), was busy taking over properties left by the Japanese,” Chen wrote.
“I might have only one vote, but people like me, who have limitless bravery when facing history, are definitely not the minority,” he said.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
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
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
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