Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials have sued Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), demanding he be held accountable for the distribution of campaign literature which used an image of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assault on New York City to attack President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Despite this criticism, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials yesterday continued to defend the campaign poster, describing the poster's inclusion of photographs of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda terror figurehead Osama bin Laden as "creative."
"We want people to know that Chen is dangerous, that his actions are those of terrorism," said Lin Poh-jung (
Lin is also a former KMT Tai-chung mayor and a long-standing ally of Hu. Hu is a former foreign minister and one of the KMT's most promising candidates for top leadership roles.
"We chose to use the picture of Hussein because he unfairly controlled elections as the president of Iraq -- just like Chen Shui-bian," Lin said.
"In addition, bin Laden masterminded the attack on the World Trade Center ... Chen also likes to play games, pulling off tricks just like the Sept. 11 terrorist attack," Lin told the Taipei Times.
"The ad shows bin Laden saying `I am terrorist leader bin Laden, and I admire Taiwan's A-bian!'" he said, quoting the poster from memory.
On the poster, bold text also accuses Chen of "starting fires and inciting chaos wherever he goes."
The text is accompanied by a graphic of the collapse of one of the Twin Towers. A picture of Hussein holding a gun, saying "I am Hussein and you will all do as I say," figures prominently on the other side of the poster.
Around 600,000 copies of the poster were printed by the Tai-chung City KMT campaign headquarters 10 days before the election, Lin said.
"We had the foresight to think of using Hussein. We predicted that Chen would mess with the elections even before they happened," he said.
Lin said the poster had been produced by their publicity department, and that Hu, the director general of the campaign headquarters, had not participated in designing the ad.
But DPP campaign headquarters director general Chen Ta-chun (
"Even if Hu says that he didn't have anything to do with the poster, he is still the director general of the campaign headquarters that designed it," Chen said.
While calling the comparison of Chen Shui-bian with Hussein and bin Laden "inappropriate and wrong," the offending element that prompted the DPP lawsuit was instead an illustration urging residents not to vote in the referendum.
Chen Ta-chun said he had filed a lawsuit on March 18 against Hu on charges of interfering with electoral procedures according to Article 147 of the Criminal Code (
REPULSIVE
Meanwhile, the use of Osama bin Laden, Sept. 11, Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler in pan-blue campaign materials angered a well-known missionary figure in Taipei.
Bishop Stephen Cambio, who works with underprivileged and single-parent families in Taipei City's Ta-an District, said the KMT-PFP advertisement was "repulsive."
"To take a man [bin Laden] of such atrocity and terror and then attach him to a person like Chen is absolutely repulsive," he said.
A clearly upset Cambio said that the KMT-PFP campaign material was deeply offensive to him as an American and a Christian, and as a person who had ties to people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US.
He said that non-partisan organizations like his were trying to unite Taiwanese people through mutual trust and respect as well as connect Taiwan with the rest of the world.
But, he said, "just to sit here and listen to this is unfathomable."
Cambio called on the person or persons responsible for the material to apologize, though he also said that the use of this material so soon after the KMT-PFP alliance apologized for using Hitler in a similar format pointed to an absence of sincerity and goodwill.
A scan of the contentious poster can be viewed at:
www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/photo/2004/03/23/2003114861
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS