New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, yesterday said he supports maintaining close relations with the US while keeping a peaceful relationship with China, adding that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) foreign policy has cost the country multiple allies and made it unable to join regional economic organizations.
Hou and his running mate, Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), at a news conference in New Taipei City also vowed to impose tougher sanctions on scammers.
Asked on the sidelines to comment on Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and candidate Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) plan to follow Tsai’s foreign policy, Hou said that he opposes China’s “one country, two systems” policy and would defend Taiwan’s freedom, democracy and sovereignty, but would not support independence.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
“My position is that we should maintain close relations with the US while keeping a peaceful relationship with China. We should remain a strong ally to the US, but we also need to communicate and increase mutual understanding with China,” Hou said.
“The balance of cross-strait relations has been disrupted because of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) foreign policy. People now fear an imminent war,” he added, calling Tsai’s foreign policy a “complete failure.”
“In the past seven years, Taiwan has lost multiple allies. There is no communication, no dialogue and no exchanges between Taiwan and China, either,” Hou said.
“Because of the DPP government’s error, we cannot join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. This shows that the nation needs an adjustment in the direction of foreign policy, because what Tsai has done clearly did not work,” he said.
Facing the military threat from China, Taiwan must not harbor any impractical thoughts, he said.
“The safety of Taiwan does not depend solely on the promises made by the US. We must have a practical view of our relations with China and democratic allies,” he added.
During the news conference, Hou vowed to launch a massive crackdown on scammers during the first year of his presidency if elected, and to reduce scam cases by half by his third year.
A rise in scams has also contributed to an increase in other organized criminal activity, including drug trafficking, he said.
The DPP government has spent NT$2.7 billion (US$85.6 million) cracking down on scams, but cases continue to rise from about 20,000 last year to 30,000 this year, Hou said.
About 46,000 suspects were arrested last year alone for alleged involvement in scams, he added.
Hou touted his record of reducing violent criminal cases when he headed the National Police Agency, first by extensively investigating vehicle thefts.
Hou attributed the continual rise in scam cases to light sentencing and a lack of coordination among government agencies.
Once convicted, only about 0.5 percent of scammers are sentenced to three years in prison or longer, even if the money involved was in the billions, he said.
“If elected, I propose that individuals or organizations participating in scams will be subject to criminal liability, under which penalties should be raised 50 percent. The same penalty would apply to those who repeatedly let scammers use their bank accounts for money-laundering purposes,” he said.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday demanded that Somalia reverse its decision prohibiting Taiwanese passport holders from entering or transiting through the country. Somalia said it is following the “one China” principle based on UN Resolution 2758. The ministry said that Somalia is misinterpreting the resolution under China’s instigation, creating a false impression that Taiwan is subordinate to China. The Somali Civil Aviation Authority told airlines on Tuesday last week that starting today, any passengers with passports or travel documents issued from Taiwan or its affiliated institutions would not be allowed to enter or transit through Somalia. The decision comes as Taiwan is boosting
RSS