Keelung Councilor Jiho Chang (張之豪), a member of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), yesterday shared an online post criticizing Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) for the titles of his two books, following the party’s recent withdrawal of its slogan due to the resemblance to white supremacist discourse.
Ko has published two books, expounding his ideas to forge a new third political force in Taiwan, calling it “colorless,” or as a “white-color party,” and named them The White Power and The White Power II in English.
Chang yesterday posted a message on social media saying Ko had written a book in 2014 that is on sale at online foreign platforms with the title The White Power, then followed up with a second book later that year, titled The White Power II.
Photo: CNA
The titles can be interpreted as an endorsement of white supremacy, Chang said.
The TPP had to withdraw its slogan “Vote White, Vote Right,” due to the backlash from domestic media and Taiwan-based foreign journalists.
Chang who previously lived in Canada and graduated from the University of British Columbia, wrote: “I am sure that Ko Wen-je is not a white supremacist. But it is clear Ko is totally devoid of international perspective.”
Ko ran as an independent candidate to win the local elections in 2014 and started serving the first of his two terms as Taipei City mayor that year. His books were published during the campaign to present Ko, his background and political philosophy to voters and they were named “power, or strength of the white-color (force) (白色的力量) in Chinese.
The two books are still available online on international platforms such as Amazon, eBay and Wob with the title The White Power, Chang said.
The TPP last week had to remove its slogan “Vote White, Vote Right” from its Web site following criticism about its resemblance to the language used by white supremacists.
Taiwan-based American journalist Erin Hale said the TPP slogan is the same as the National States’ Rights Party, a now-defunct US white supremacist political group active from the 1960s to the 1970s.
TPP spokeswoman Lin Tzu-yu (林子宇) said the slogan referred to the color white that the TPP brands itself with.
“It was supposed to mean that a vote for the ‘power of white’ is the right choice,” Lin said as she denied any links to white supremacy.
The TPP pulled back the slogan, due to drawing “different opinions” online and from “friends from the West,” Lin said, while other party officials pointed at the administrators running the Web site as the source of the problem.
The TPP cannot blame the book titles on the administrators, since the books, which were written and named by Ko, came out in 2014, Chang wrote.
Meanwhile, a social media user wrote: “Thanks to Ko’s party, Taiwan is a laughingstock abroad, for promoting racism and white superiority.”
Some online users said the TPP needs to improve its handling of foreign affairs.
‘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
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
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