Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu strongly condemned Lien's latest trip to China, accusing him of "abusing" Taiwan by making money here but undermining Taiwan's interests while in China.
"Three generations of the Lien family have acquired tremendous wealth in Taiwan. However, simply because Lien failed to be elected president twice, he goes to China and trashes Taiwan. Lien Chan, where is your conscience," Lu said yesterday.
The vice president made the comments in Taipei while addressing a local meeting of the Rotary Club International.
Lu lambasted Lien for saying nothing good about Taiwan during his speech at the CCP-KMT forum held in Beijing on Friday.
"Yesterday's CCP-KMT forum was aimed at discussing economic prosperity, but nothing was said recognizing Taiwan [and its economic achievements]. It was as if Taiwan was too shameful to be mentioned." Lu said.
The vice president also said that the reason Taiwan's high-tech industries were able to become so advanced was because of the preferential conditions and treatment they get from the government.
Lu yesterday also urged Lien to demand that China stop threatening Taiwan with the use of force.
Citing increases in China's military expenditure, Lu said Lien's failure to be elected president led to the KMT's boycott of Taiwan's defense budget, which only amounted to US$7.65 billion over the past four years while China's had increased from US$20.2 billion to US$35.1 billion during the same period.
Lien is currently in Beijing to participate in the second KMT-CCP summit and discuss ways to further liberalize cross-strait economic exchanges.
At the summit on Friday, Lien said Taiwan's future development relied on China and urged those in Taiwan not to "demonize" China in the face of its rise.
He said Taiwan's economy has stagnated over the last six years and the reason it has managed to maintain an economic growth rate of 3.57 percent was because of its trade surplus with China.
Lien criticized the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government for being slow in opening up cross-strait charter flights, saying its economic policies were inappropriate and had led to a stagnation in Taiwan's economic development.
He further advanced his idea of a cross-strait common market, saying cooperation could be realized in the agricultural, financial and energy sectors as well as cross-strait charter flights.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"So many Taiwanese business-people have gone to China, and local businessmen are yearning for Chinese tourists. We hope that the president and vice president can consider people's expectations," he said yesterday after attending a tea party with Taipei residents at the 228 Memorial Park.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
also see stories:
China offers economic agreements
DPP slams absent KMT lawmakers
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS