The emotion-laden criticism against the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) demonstrates a lack of political grace expected of the ruling party and its presidential candidate, DPP spokesperson Juan Chao-hsiung (阮昭雄) said yesterday.
Hung was confirmed yesterday as her party’s presidential candidate by round of applause at the KMT’s national congress.
In her speech accepting the nomination, Hung criticized the DPP, saying that over the past seven years, it has chosen incessant nationalistic rhetoric and rumor-mongering over potential national development and the benefits of the people.
Juan said that the DPP, despite the recent round of mud-slinging, continues to hope that January presidential and legislative elections would demonstrate a mature Taiwanese democracy and open the way to a new era of rational discourse on public issues and political culture.
“We however regret comments made by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), KMT Chairperson Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Hung [at the KMT national congress criticizing the DPP],” Juan said.
The comments show the KMT has not made any reflection toward its failure of governance over the past seven years, with the entirety of its discourse focused on emotion-laden attacks on the DPP and Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Juan said.
The comments demonstrate a lack of political grace expected of the ruling political party and its presidential candidate, and Hung’s comments are not on the political level needed to govern a nation, Juan added.
In related news, former KMT legislator Chang Sho-wen (張碩文), who withdrew from the KMT before it officially expelled him on Wednesday, yesterday posted an article on Facebook in support of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
The farcical show of solidarity at the KMT congress in an attempt to stump for “a presidential candidate with no political achievements and who cannot even persuade themselves or their supporters” put all 1,600 KMT representatives in a difficult position, Chang said.
Hung has always had little regard for Wang, so he was not surprised that Wang would refuse Hung’s request to be her campaign manager after Hung said that if Wang wanted to continue to be a presence in the legislature, he should return to his constituency and run for district seat, Chang said.
Wang serves as a legislator-at-large for the KMT.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS