That's not what he thinks, pan-blues retort

Disputes about education reforms marked pan-blue electioneering this weekend, with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) leaders criticizing the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration for setting Taiwan along a "dangerous path" to Taiwanese independence via cultural reforms.

While stumping for PFP legislator Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交) in Taichung City yesterday, Soong accused the Chen administration of initiating a "new cultural revolution."

The Cultural Revolution was a period of Chinese history from 1966-77 in which People's Republic of China leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) attempted to purify the Communist Party and rekindle revolutionary fervor. During the Cultural Revolution, millions were forced into manual labor, and tens of thousands were executed. The result was massive civil unrest. Major leaders in the Cultural Revolution were the "Gang of Four". Jiang Qing (江青, Mao's fourth wife), Zhang Chunqiao (張春橋), Yao Wenyuan (姚文元), and Wang Hongwen (王洪文).

While stumping for Hwang yesterday, Soong identified a "new Gang of Four:" Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) for her comments this summer on "black pygmies," which sparked controversy among the nation's Aboriginal peoples; Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) for calling Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) a foreigner on Friday; Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) for supporting recent pan-green comments that "China is an enemy country;" and Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) for proposing to bring history textbooks into line with historical truth.

Chen Shui-bian said publicly Nov. 8 that "some people mistake the enemy country for the motherland." Examination Yuan member Lin Yu-ti (林玉体) also recently made comments that China is an enemy country. A news search was unable to reveal that Chen Ding-nan had made any such comments.

Recent moves by the Chen Shui-bian administration have confused the people's value systems, Soong said yesterday.

Similarly, KMT spokesperson Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) yesterday criticized Chen for beginning a movement to "eliminate the Republic of China."

From the Ministry of Education's history reforms, to Yao and Lin's comments Friday that Republic of China founder Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) is a foreigner with little connection to Taiwan, to former President Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) recent comments that the Republic of China is already dead, it is clear that under Chen's strategy for Taiwanese independence, the move to eliminate the Republic of China has already begun, Chang said.

Chang also commented on Chen Shui-bian's comments yesterday acknowledging Sun as the nation's father, Chang told the Taipei Times that while Chen's comments may seem more neutral on the topic, it was the KMT's stance that the recent comments by the administration's officials were better indicators of Chen's true feelings on the matter.

"This has become such an important issue that Chen had to come out and say something, or else lose moderate voters in the year-end legislative elections," Chang said.

"However, the recent remarks by the Minister of Education, etc. are still reflective of what the DPP and Chen thinks. They're [the comments] are more like [the DPP's] feelers to see how the voters will react," Chang said

Chang added that he believed that the recent actions of the administration were indicative of the administration's movement towards declaring Taiwanese independence.