Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) yesterday apologized for calling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) “ractopamine pork auntie,” while KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) urged the public not to judge politicians based on age or appearance.
“There is no need for people to judge politicians based on age or physical appearance, or to use discriminatory words,” Wang told the launch ceremony of a KMT shop on the e-commerce platform PChome.
“The DPP claims to be a progressive party. Its young members should not use discriminatory language,” Wang said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
She said she hoped that the DPP could learn from the incident on Monday, when DPP online community center director Fan Kang-hao (范綱皓) called her on Facebook the “already 50-year-old Alicia Wang.”
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), as a female politician and chairperson of the DPP, should share her opinion on the issue and instruct DPP members not to discriminate, Wang said.
Fan posted images of Wang and DPP Legislator Lai Pin-yu (賴品妤), with captions for both photographs reading: “Young person.”
Under the image of Wang, the caption was crossed out and “Auntie?” had been added, leading to accusations of age-based discrimination against Fan by KMT members.
Fan removed the post on the same day and apologized.
KMT Youth Department director Chen Kuan-an (陳冠安), who heads the KMT e-commerce center, said that the center’s telephone lines have since the incident been jammed with people seeking to purchase recently launched jackets, to express their support for the party and Wang.
“If Rosalia Wu minds the title ‘auntie,’ I am willing to apologize,” Lo wrote on Facebook with the hashtag: “I called Rosalia Wu auntie. I apologize.”
Lo, who is also director of the KMT’s Institute of Revolutionary Practice, asked if Wu would apologize for calling former KMT legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) “Grandpa Ting,” or for calling him chihan (癡漢, foolish person), accusing the DPP of double standards.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS