Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Simon Chang (張善政) yesterday apologized for saying that Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) would end up back in a hospital if he kept criticizing the KMT.
Su on Nov. 18 took a leave of absence due to a virus-induced facial palsy. Although he returned to work the next day, he has canceled his scheduled appearances at public events.
Chang on Wednesday told a news conference in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) that Su has become quieter after his hospitalization.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
“Let me tell you something. If he keeps lashing out all the time after he returns to work at the Executive Yuan, God would make him go back to the hospital very soon,” he said.
Chang yesterday said he was sorry if his remarks made Su or his family uncomfortable.
“I would like to say I am sorry and that I wish him good health. I definitely did not mean to curse him,” he said.
He had meant to urge Su to stop criticizing others and do his work as premier, Chang said.
If Su starts to do his work, “he would of course stop criticizing others and, as a result, a curse would not make a difference,” he said.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said that as a former premier, Chang should always speak the truth and not allow elections to lead him astray.
Su has a sense of humor and magnanimity, Kolas said.
He has met many challenges and faced all kinds of perplexing attacks, so he would not pay Chang’s “escapade” any mind, she said.
Su’s daughter, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧), said that she was “very upset” about Chang’s initial comment.
Politicians can compete in elections, “but we should not make such horrible remarks about our opponents’ health and life,” she told reporters at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
“This has reached the bottom,” she said, urging voters to think carefully about what kind of people they want as the nation’s leaders.
Asked if she would press charges against Chang, Su Chiao-hui said that the harm done by his remark cannot be undone.
To defend him, Chang’s supporters resorted to even more radical verbal attacks, further dividing society, she said.
Additional reporting by Sean Lin, Lee Hsin-fang and CNA
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS