Members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP) yesterday accused Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) of trying to nullify security laws and undermine national sovereignty in the legislature after returning from China.
Fu led 16 KMT lawmakers and a number of party officials on a visit to China earlier this week, and soon after returning has been vigorous in his efforts to amend the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and other national security laws, TSP secretary-general Wu Hsin-tai (吳欣岱) told a news conference in Taipei.
People are seeing KMT lawmakers colluding with China to subvert Taiwan’s sovereignty by planning to nullify punishments, Wu said, also accusing Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers of collaborating with the KMT to diminish the public’s will to fight for Taiwan.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“We have these so-called opposition parties sitting in the legislature who are willing collaborators for China, so who needs an enemy?” Wu said, demanding that DPP legislators stand firm.
TSP Kaohsiung City Councilor Chang Po-yang (張博洋) said that China has been bullying Taiwan for decades, now with constant military intimidation.
“But Fu sees none of that and instead loves going to China, always speaking of the need to depend on the Chinese market for Taiwan to have economic prosperity,” Chang said. “Decoupling links to China has become a common trend among democratic nations, but Fu and other KMT members want to do the reverse.”
However, Beijing officials belittled Fu and his delegation, as they offered very little in return for their visit and did not open up and allow Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan as Fu had hoped for, Chang added.
Separately yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) responded to Fu on Wednesday pressuring other lawmakers to change the word “China” to “mainland” and “nation” to “Taiwan” in legislation.
“I think this action is not necessary, and Taiwanese would find it quite unbelievable,” he told a hearing at the legislature. “Official government papers have long had a tradition of finding an appropriate way when addressing the country across the Taiwan Strait, therefore I think everyone should respect such tradition.”
Meanwhile, Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said he sees no need to change the terminology.
“In the past, people have used various terms when at different events; some spoke of China, others of the mainland,” he said. “It is still what people use during those occasions, but it points out that across the Taiwan Strait are two separate political entities.”
DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) castigated Fu’s trip as groveling to Chinese leaders and taking instructions.
“Fu’s actions speak volumes,” she said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS