Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday said that his party’s presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), in his visit to the US would clearly tell friends in the international community that the KMT is the true defender of the Republic of China (ROC).
Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate, “promotes Taiwanese independence every day,” he said.
Chu’s comments came a day after Lai was quoted by Bloomberg Business as saying in an interview that “Taiwan is already a sovereign, independent country called the Republic of China.”
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“And in respect to unifying Taiwanese society, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has used the term Republic of China [Taiwan] to describe our country. I will continue to do so in the future,” Lai was quoted as saying. “There are no plans to change the name of our country.”
In response, Chu said in a speech to the KMT Central Standing Committee that the KMT is the true defender of Taiwan’s constitutional order while the DPP has been working toward the formal independence of Taiwan.
“Lai, the golden grandchild of the Taiwanese independence movement and a self-avowed pro-independence politician, has supported Taiwanese independence every day of his life,” Chu said.
“Even Taiwanese independence supporters say that they would vote for Lai so that he can push for independence after taking office,” he added.
Support for Taiwanese independence is in Lai’s genes and he would not change “even if he lied to obtain votes and international support,” Chu said, adding that the KMT is the true guardian of Taiwan and the guarantor of peace in the Taiwan Strait.
Separately, Hou said that Lai in the past characterized himself as a pragmatic politician advocating for Taiwanese independence.
Considering Lai’s previous public comments, his recent claims about not seeking formal independence do not make sense, Hou said.
DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) yesterday slammed Chu in a Facebook post saying that his remarks are indistinguishable from those of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
“Is the KMT chairman lodging a complaint against Lai to Westerners on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party?” he asked.
Chu’s remarks breached the cardinal rule that a politician must put the nation above their private or partisan political interests when speaking to an international audience, Wang said, adding that politicians should refrain from complaining about political opponents to outsiders.
The KMT has achieved “a new low” in sharing Taiwan’s internal political disputes with the nation’s allies in a public manner, Wang said.
Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-yu and Lai Hsiao-tung
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS