Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said that he had — indirectly — asked former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) to reconsider attending Beijing’s military parade next week marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Hau, the former Taipei mayor and his party’s legislative candidate for Keelung, said the message was passed along with help from his father, former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村), who had asked a third party to deliver it.
He said his father had urged Lien, through “a certain communication channel,” not to attend the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) celebrations next week to commemorate China’s victory over Japan before the historical truth — that the KMT/Republic of China (ROC) was the mainstay of the force fighting Japan — has been reinstated in China.
As long as the Chinese government has not rectified its version of the history of the War of Resistance Against Japan, attending Beijing’s commemorative events would be tantamount to distorting historical facts and endorsing the CCP’s false interpretation of the history, Hau Lung-bin said.
Commemorating the war would be meaningful only if Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) leading role and the sacrifice of the ROC’s soldiers in the war were recognized, he said.
Neither he nor his father considered it appropriate to accept the CCP’s invitation to the celebrations, Hau Lung-bin said, adding that his father — a retired four-star army general and former chief of the general staff — had tried a month ago to discourage other retired brass and KMT politicians from going to Beijing as well.
Hau Pei-tsun told several retired generals that as their salaries were once paid by the ROC government, which is still paying their pensions, they should not go, because any former ROC military personnel who stood on a stage in Beijing to watch Thursday’s parade would compromise their soldier’s integrity.
“If you attend the CCP’s military parade, you should give up your pension,” Hau Lung-bin quoted his father as saying.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said that he had also asked Lien not to attend the parade for the sake of the ROC’s dignity and because history “cannot be turned into ashes.”
“This is not to pressure anybody, but it is just that it concerns the integrity of the KMT and the ROC,” Wu said.
“Once you go, the truth of the resistance war is distorted,” Wu said.
The KMT harshly criticized former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) over comments that he made about the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), calling him a traitor to the ROC, so the KMT should hold Lien to the same standard and tell him not to go to Beijing, Wu said.
The Ministry of National Defense has also issued a statement urging retired military personnel not to attend next week’s events in Beijing to commemorate the anniversary.
The ministry said it had issued the appeal to protect the nation’s dignity and so that no one could question the veterans’ motives.
Beijing has reportedly sent invitation to several ROC veterans to attend a series of events marking the anniversary of the end of the war.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to