Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday vowed to restore the nation to its former glory under late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) by leading the KMT to victory in the local elections in November and to win back executive power in 2020.
Wu made the remarks at an event held by the KMT at the Taipei Hero House to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Chiang’s death.
The event was attended by all KMT chairpersons after former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) — former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), Wu and Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱).
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
“Chiang was a man with eyes like torches, a heart as big as the ocean and shoulders stronger than iron,” Wu said during his speech about his experience working under Chiang.
Chiang’s four major contributions to the nation were pushing the 10 Reforms (十項革新), the 10 Major Construction Projects, lifting martial law and allowing veterans who had retreated from China to Taiwan with the KMT in 1949 to visit their families in China.
While carrying out the 10 Reforms Chiang led by example, adopting a frugal lifestyle, while he also punished officials found to have been involved in graft, which greatly reduced corruption in the government, Wu said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The 10 Major Construction Projects jump-started the nation’s industries and propelled the nation to the No. 1 spot among the four “Asian tigers” in terms of economic growth, he said.
The lifting of martial law enabled people to form political parties and laid the foundation for the nation’s transformation to a free and democratic nation built upon the rule of law, while allowing veterans to visit their families in China ushered in an era of peaceful exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, he said.
“As we commemorate the 30th anniversary of Sir Chiang’s passing, we feel that the responsibility on our shoulders is more important than ever, and the fire in our hearts is burning more fiercely than ever,” Wu said.
The KMT is more steadfast than ever in its resolve to regain political power — especially when it is faced with a ruling party that deviates from the ways of the past — so that it can bring back prosperity and wealth to all people; promote harmony in the legislature; build a society where young people’s talents can be seen and where elders are treated with respect; and resume steady and peaceful cross-strait developments through the bond between Zhonghua minzu (中華民族, “Chinese ethnic group”) on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Wu said.
The party will nominate whoever has the necessary capabilities, loyalty, experience, achievements and chance of winning in the lead-up to this year’s local elections, and the 2020 presidential and legislative elections, he said.
Ma reminisced about his 76 months working as Chiang’s aide, sharing anecdotes and doing impersonations of the former president, with which he drew laughter and applause from the audience.
“When he received then-Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, and told her that he was going to lift martial law and allow people to found political parties, I translated his every word into English, while telling myself that he was creating history,” Ma said.
He lauded Chiang for bringing about peaceful cross-strait developments and criticized the Democratic Progressive Party for allowing cross-strait exchanges to cease.
“When did cross-strait relations become as icy as they were before I took office?” Ma said.
While Chiang ended the nation’s authoritarian era and laid the groundwork for Taiwan’s democracy, a new authoritarian regime has formed, waiting for its moment, Ma said, without clarifying his remarks.
“We should all be alert and not allow the hard-fought democratic and constitutional system to be destroyed,” he said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
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
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
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS