The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused former Tuntex chairman Chen Yu-hao (
DPP campaign spokesperson Wu Nai-jen (
"This is hard evidence that Chen is indeed a tool of China to sway the election," Wu said.
Wu said that China has long tried to help nurture a pro-Beijing political power in Taiwan and to achieve that, it has used all possible means to influence the results of Taiwan's presidential elections.
Wu said China failed in 1996 and 2000 to defeat the presidential candidates it disliked through military exercises and intimidating rhetoric. In this year's election, he said, China has used various methods to try to prevent President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) re-election.
First, Wu said, China has allowed the pan-blue Taiwanese businesspeople in that country to publicly campaign for the pan-blue presidential ticket. It has also helped with the mobilization of Taiwanese businesspeople to return home to vote for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Second, he said, China has labeled Chen a "separatist" for trying to undermine its "one China" principle by holding a referendum.
Third, he said, it has used such threatening rhetoric as "the referendum will lead to a war across the Taiwan Strait" and "China's ballistic missiles are no threat to Taiwan."
Fourth, Wu said, China has tried to use the reports of the arrests of alleged Taiwanese spies and accusations made by Chen Yu-hao to attack the president.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to