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
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole