The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday accused the government of becoming increasingly intolerant of different opinions in its response to COVID-19.
Speaking at an online news conference from the party’s headquarters in Taipei, KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) compared the government’s COVID-19 response to a “dictatorship.”
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration “is becoming more and more autocratic and intolerant of diverse voices,” she said.
The resignation of Academia Sinica academician Chen Pei-jer (陳培哲) from the vaccine review committee was “the best proof” of that, she said.
She was referring to remarks by Chen, who on Monday said that he had resigned late last month because he felt the committee would have trouble staying neutral when reviewing domestic vaccine candidates.
Chen added that the major challenge to staying neutral came from “President Tsai herself” after she said that a locally developed COVID-19 vaccine was expected to be available late next month.
Other people have in the past been attacked by Democratic Progressive Party-friendly commentators for holding different opinions from the government, Wang said.
‘ECHO CHAMBER’
“The Tsai administration has really become an echo chamber,” Wang said, urging the president to rein in the attacks against Chen.
Tsai had told the public early on that people would be able to receive domestically manufactured vaccines by the end of next month, Wang said.
With the announcement, it has become useless for members of the review committee to express opposing views, because Tsai had already “ordered” that domestic vaccines should be available next month, she said.
The purpose of having a review committee is to give professionals an independent platform to express their opinions truthfully without coming under political pressure, Wang said.
Only when committee members are willing to do so can the public trust the safety and efficacy of the vaccines approved by the committee, she said.
If different opinions cannot be raised faithfully, the public might have doubts about the safety and efficacy of domestic vaccines, she added.
The issue of domestic vaccines is a professional and scientific one, and should not be subject to political interference, Wang said.
She added that the KMT supports the development and use of domestic vaccines whose safety and effectiveness have been fully verified.
NEVER HEARD?
Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said on Monday evening that the Presidential Office was not aware of either Chen’s appointment or resignation as a member of the vaccine review committee.
Even though Chen has recently expressed different views, the office fully respects his right to speak, Chang said, calling Chen’s statements “puzzling and regrettable.”
The government has on several occasions expressed its position that the process of developing and manufacturing any vaccine must follow a rigorous scientific procedure, he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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
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
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at