Pan-blue legislators have stayed away from China's National Day celebrations, obeying their leaders' calls to protect the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) from accusations ahead of the presidential election that they are conniving with China.
"According to information we have from the national security network, there were no legislators from the pan-blue camp -- at least in an open, public fashion -- attending China's National Day this year," said Wu Jui-wen (吳瑞文), office manager of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiang Chao-yi (江昭儀).
Chiang, along with DPP legislators such as Trong Chai (蔡同榮) and Lin Chin-hsing (林進興), are members of the Alliance Against Selling Out Taiwan (反賣台聯盟). The alliance was formed to monitor interactions between the pan-blue camp and China.
In a press statement released by the alliance two weeks ago, it said that China had invited pan-blue-camp members to yesterday's National Day celebrations.
The statement said that the invitations were sent to people Beijing believed "had made contributions to the interests of China."
Wu said that, in the past, there were pan-blue legislators, such as former New Party legislator Elmer Feng (馮滬祥), who openly publicized their attendance at the celebrations. But a KMT ban on its members visiting China, Hong Kong and Macao between now and next March's presidential election had been heeded.
The KMT issued the ban shortly after the alliance issued its statement on the invitations.
KMT legislative caucus leader Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) said that the notice was issued to reduce the chance of critics "defaming" the party and accusing it of collaborating with China to sell out Taiwan.
"While there was no public attendance from the pan-blue legislators this Oct. 1 in China, the alliance will continue to keep an eye on any interaction between the pan-blue camp and Beijing and will publicize our findings when there are any," Wu said.
"We think it is extremely inappropriate for any legislators from Taiwan to attend China's National Day celebration," said Wu. "However, we are not surprised that there are members from civil groups in Taiwan attending."
Wang Jung-hsiung (
"[The invitations] were for the group's high-ranking officers such as the chairman, vice chairman and general-secretary," Wang said, adding that a delegation of four people was now in China.
Tan Shou (唐曙), secretary-general of the pro-unification Labor Party, however, said that the party had not received any invitations for the past two or three years.
Also See Story:
Editorial: The KMT's questionable allegiance
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS