President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) actions on cross-strait issues put the country at risk, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday in response to her Double Ten National Day speech.
In her address, Tsai highlighted her administration’s position that it is willing to find a “mutually agreeable arrangement” to uphold peace and stability provided there is “rationality, equality and mutual respect” with Beijing.
The KMT said in a statement that despite her willingness to work with Beijing on a mutually acceptable path to peace across the Taiwan Strait, her administration “has never taken concrete actions” to do so.
Photo: CNA
Tsai wants Taiwanese and Chinese to gradually resume normal exchanges as the two sides reopen borders after COVID-19 restrictions, while turning a blind eye to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers’ provocative behavior toward China, the KMT said.
Although the president emphasized her administration’s commitment to improving information transparency and identifying disinformation, the government has not disclosed documents related to COVID-19 vaccine procurement, which were classified as confidential and would remain sealed for 30 years, the KMT said.
The Presidential Office is known to be a “false information production center,” it added, calling on the Tsai administration to stop restricting freedom of speech and freedom of the press under the excuse of identifying false information.
Earlier yesterday at a flag-raising ceremony held by the KMT at its headquarters in Taipei to commemorate Double Ten National Day, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) reiterated that his party is determined to “build peace in the Taiwan Strait, safeguard the Republic of China [ROC] and protect the region.”
Asked if he would press Tsai at a holiday ceremony on her administration’s use of “Taiwan National Day” — which former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has opposed, preferring “ROC National Day” — Chu said that Tsai would likely only give her speech and not interact with anyone, which he said was what happened last year.
“Safeguarding the ROC is not only the stance taken by the KMT, but the shared position of all Taiwanese,” he said.
The DPP should not keep thinking about minimizing the ROC or even eliminating it, he said.
The DPP promoting a sense of impending national doom for its own political interest is “nothing new,” but the KMT has proposed a more concrete “double D” strategy of “defense and dialogue,” he said.
The proposal calls for Taiwan to build up its defense capabilities, while keeping a channel open for dialogue with Beijing for threat reduction and crisis management, he said.
Chu said that Tsai uses her Double Ten National Day speeches to promote her policies, while creating new slogans every year that would not help achieve her goals.
Taiwanese want to know “whether the ROC has become better,” he said, adding that if the value of democracy and freedom as well as the press are being controlled, “how can people live a good life?”
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS