Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) at the KMT’s separate flag-raising event for the Double Ten National Day yesterday said that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was sowing ideological division in the nation.
He made the remark hours before President William Lai (賴清德) called for unity in his National Day presidential address.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and KMT lawmakers occupying leadership positions in the party were seen attending the KMT event instead of partaking in the official ceremony.
Photo: CNA
“The Republic of China [ROC] was created by Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) 113 years ago, who led the revolution alongside sages and saints,” Chu said.
“The KMT forever stands with the people in defense of the ROC and Taiwan’s economic development, peace and democracy,” Chu added.
The KMT supports all bills and budget proposals beneficial to Taiwanese and national security, as the party is pursuing legislative reform and aims to broaden local governments’ self-ruling powers, especially in fiscal matters, he said.
Photo: CNA
“The party stands firmly in support of cross-strait peace and economic advancement on the path of peace,” the KMT chairman said, adding that peace underpins the party’s commitment to the so-called “1992 consensus” and the Constitution.
The so-called “1992 consensus” is a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000. It refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
“It is a shame that Lai’s presidency so far has shown that strife is the only word in his dictionary,” Chu said.
The DPP’s “prejudiced ideology” is to blame for the strife in the Taiwan Strait and Taiwanese government, he added.
The DPP must cross the political divide by giving up its ideological positions, he said.
In the 21st century, the DPP should give up its steadfast support for Taiwanese independence, and opposition to nuclear energy and the death penalty,” Chu said.
“Taiwanese independence is a dead end,” he added.
Ma said that he declined to attend the official National Day ceremony in protest of the president’s stance on the nation’s sovereignty.
There are no two nations across the Taiwan Strait, but there are two areas that can coexist in peace, Ma said, adding that Lai’s new “two states theory” has branded the president a “troublemaker” in international eyes.
At a separate event, Taiwan Statebuilding Party Chairman Wang Hsing-huan (王興煥) slammed Lai’s endorsement of the ROC name as leading the Taiwanese independence movement into “a dead end.”
The government should handle the ROC national identity with care in its bid to capture political capital, lest it allows the enemy to set definitions for itself, he added.
Taiwan should seize the opportunity created by the particular conditions of international society to escape the ideological framework from the conflict between the two Chinas, National Taiwan University history professor Chou Wan-yao (周婉窈) said.
To identify with the ROC or the People’s Republic of China is to endorse China’s so-called unification and Taiwan’s disappearance as an entity, Chou said.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in a statement said that Lai is coming to the realization that the people are above partisan interests and that the president should practice unity by working with the opposition.
‘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
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
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
RSS