Fri, Oct 11, 2024 page2

• DPP sowing division in nation, KMT chairman says

  BLAME GAME: The DPP is the reason for strife in the Strait and the government, the KMT said, adding that it must give up support for Taiwanese independence

  • By Shih Hsiao-kuang, Fang Wei-li and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writer
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  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.

  

  People wave national flags at a flag-raising ceremony at Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters in Taipei yesterday.

  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.

  

  Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu, front row, second right, former president Ma Ying-jeou, front row, second left, and other KMT members chant at a Double Ten National Day flag-raising ceremony at party headquarters in Taipei yesterday.

  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.
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