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
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
ENHANCED SECURITY: A Japanese report said that the MOU is about the sharing of information on foreign nationals entering Japan from Taiwan in the event of an emergency The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that Taiwan and Japan had signed an agreement to promote information exchanges and cooperation on border management, although it did not disclose more details on the pact. Ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said the ministry is happy to see that the two nations continue to enhance cooperation on immigration control, in particular because Taiwan and Japan “share a deep friendship and frequent people-to-people exchanges.” “Last year, more than 7.32 million visits were made between the two countries, making it even more crucial for both sides to work closer on immigration and border control,” he said. Hsiao
RSS