Taiwan’s sovereignty and national security are in danger of being undermined from within by a proposed amendment from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Weng Hsiao-lin (翁曉玲) that would allow military and key government officials to salute China’s national flag, sing the Chinese national anthem and engage in other actions that recognize Beijing government’s political authority, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said.
Weng’s proposal amounts to opening the door for Taiwan’s retired military generals to take up Chinese propaganda warfare and ‘united front” (統戰) efforts by Beijing to subvert Taiwanese sovereignty, DPP Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said.
“We see these actions as treason ... to sell out Taiwan to China,” Shen said, adding that Weng’s proposal is the opposite of efforts by DPP lawmakers to safeguard national security against infiltration and subversion by China.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said that Weng “is dismantling the protective walls safeguarding Taiwan national security, by proposing to remove the laws protecting our national sovereignty.”
Weng in her heart wants to sing the Chinese national anthem and identifies China as her motherland, Hung said, asking whether other KMT officials support Weng’s proposal or view it as representative of the KMT’s party platform.
New Power Party Chairwoman Claire Wang (王婉諭) separately accused Weng of “working in Taiwan’s legislature as a foot soldier for China.”
She added that Weng’s proposal to permit retired generals to show loyalty to Chinese government “is a grave insult to all Taiwanese taxpayers who pay a portion of their hard-earned income toward the generous pensions of these military officials.”
“I want to know if KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) supports Weng’s proposal, which severely endangers Taiwan national sovereignty, and if the whole party agrees with it,” Wang said.
“Are KMT members not aware that China’s political doctrine calls for a military invasion of Taiwan?” she said.
Weng referred to her proposal as a “individual human rights” and “freedom of expression” issue. Earlier this week, she collected sufficient signatures from fellow KMT legislators to propose removing Article 9-3 of the amended Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
The article imposed a ban on active-duty military personnel and retired military personnel of major general or higher rank from engaging in acts such as saluting China’s national flag or its emblems, singing Chinese anthems or any other behaviors that recognize China’s political authority.
The same restrictions apply to senior civilian officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council, as well as senior officers in national security agencies.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have