Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (
Riled by Yeo's comment last Friday that a push for independence by certain groups in Taiwan will lead to war with China, Chen said that Singapore was a country no bigger than "a piece of snot" that holds China's "lan pa".
In Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), lan pa means testicles. Saying that someone holds another's lan pa means that he or she is fawning over that person.
Chen's remarks became headline news and a hot topic on TV talk shows and call-in programs.
At a press conference yesterday, Chen explained that he used the colloquialism because he was talking to a group of people from central and southern Taiwan -- members of a pro-independence group who had appealed to him to change the name of Taiwan's representative office in Japan to better express the country's sovereignty.
Chen said he felt great pain in his heart during the meeting.
"The people pleaded with me to change the name of our overseas representative offices, as if I have been doing nothing to rectify the names of these offices," he said.
"You all know my background. I was on [the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT)] blacklist for many years because of my support for Taiwan's independence and democratization. I couldn't return home when my parents passed away," he said.
Chen said he felt the group did not know him and the difficulties of his job. He said he mentioned Yeo's UN speech in order to explain Taiwan's diplomatic plight.
"I used the language that I learned as a child to explain to these people from the south, so they would understand my point better. I didn't mean to criticize Singapore," he said.
Chen said that if he really wanted to protest to Singapore, he would have called in its representative, Ker Sin Tze (
He also lashed out at KMT officials who have said he didn't know diplomatic etiquette.
"I believe I know diplomatic etiquette. I was involved in congressional diplomacy when I was in the US," Chen said, referring to his 30 years in the US.
He said that he has never criticized the Singapore government since taking office.
"Singapore has been very good to us. It is our trustworthy friend in Asia. I wish it could be a diplomatic ally," he said.
However, he said, he would not remain silent when other countries bully Taiwan.
He also said that neither he nor the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is responsible for the nation's diplomatic difficulties -- it was the diplomats in the 1970s who are to blame because they did not act in the nation's best interests when Taiwan left the UN in 1971.
"I want the world to respect Taiwan. Day and night I ponder on how to achieve this," Chen said.
Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (
"The premier telephoned Minister Chen this morning to express his wish to see the minister `appropriately respond' to the misunderstanding, which was caused by his misuse of words and improper judgment," Chen Chi-mai told reporters at the press conference held after the weekly closed-door Cabinet meeting yesterday afternoon.
The Cabinet official also criticized Yeo's remarks, which he called "unfriendly" and "interference in Taiwan's domestic affairs."
"It's not what a good friend would say," he said.
Meanwhile, the DPP reiterated its support for Chen yesterday.
"He revealed his true love [for Taiwan]. The point is that Singapore has hurt us," DPP legislative caucus whip Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) said.
additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling
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
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
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
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