Former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday challenged the KMT to kick him out of the party, but denied he was the one that needed discipline.
Instead, he suggested that those within the party who have distorted its direction, pandered to leaders in Beijing and sold out Taiwan should be punished first.
"I am nearly 80 years old. If you want to cut my head off then go ahead and do it anytime," Lee said yesterday, addressing a Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) training camp for young leaders in Taichung.
"However, the simple problem is that the direction you are going in is wrong."
While the KMT is currently reviewing ousting its former chairman, they are doing so with caution.
Earlier this month, Lee attended rallies for the newly formed TSU, which he hopes will bring stability back to the nation's unruly legislature by supporting the DPP.
His attendance at the rallies have prompted KMT members to call for Lee's ouster.
Political observers say that the KMT has hesitated taking any strong action against Lee for fear that such a move would create more turmoil within the party.
When plans last week for party leaders to meet with Lee failed, the KMT sent Lee a letter expressing their concerns.
Lee's comments yesterday were his first public reaction to the letter.
Lee said there was no reason for him to respond directly to the letter because it was clear what he has been fighting for over the last 12 years. However, the KMT should ask itself where its loyalties lie, he said.
"Why is it that your party hasn't done anything to punish those who used to say they were `anti-communist' and who've now run off to China to reunite with the Communists?" Lee asked.
Responding to Lee's comments, most of the 500 individuals attending the training camp at a hotel in Taichung jumped to their feet and cheered.
Lee continued: "Is that the meaning of democracy? I don't know what the party leaders are doing. I think those people should be handled first, then you can come and take care of me."
The KMT, in a late press release, said that it was "shocked and confused" by Lee's comments.
Lee is not the only one who has raised questions concerning the KMT's loyalty. A recent report published by a US scholar confirmed that many KMT politicians who travel to China and meet with China's leaders have urged them to not communicate with the DPP government.
Lee said that the "tragedy of Taiwan" was that for the past 100 years -- during the Japanese colonial period and under the rule of the KMT -- the people of Taiwan were for the most part unable to be masters of their own destiny.
"It is a great pity that the Taiwanese do not have the power to rule. That is the tragedy of Taiwan. I will fight to release this kind of pressure," Lee said.
The strange thing is that those people who advocated being anti-communist in the past now go to China, leading others behind them, Lee said.
"You young people should challenge and question those people, and ask them why did you ask me to fight them in the past and now you sell out the people of Taiwan. We must be resolved and fight for the fate of Taiwanese."
Lee noted that over 100 years ago Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) said that the rights belong to the people, but that ideal has yet to be implemented.
"Those politicians only speak of freedom but all they care about in the end is power and control. They just use those slogans as tools to manipulate and cheat the public," Lee said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique