Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday demanded an apology from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"He made himself an enemy of human rights," DPP Legislator Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) said. "Despite his advocacy of human rights and the rule of law, I have a Chinese proverb for him: The weasel goes to pay his respects to the hen -- not with the best of intentions."
Producing a copy of what she said was an official letter issued by then presidential secretary-general Ma Chi-chuang (
Ma, who graduated from Harvard University's law school, had previously worked as an intern for a law firm in New York.
The letter said that Ma, a recipient of the KMT's Chungshan Scholarship, was "loyal to the party and loved his country" and "organized various patriotic activities."
Pointing out that Ma had described former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (
The Kaohsiung Incident, also known as the Formosa Incident, refers to the police crackdown on a peaceful rally to mark Human Rights Day. The Dec. 10, 1979, event is generally recognized as an important turning point in the nation's democratization.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Yen Sheng-kuan (顏聖冠) showed a picture printed in a book that she said proved that Ma was gathering information for the KMT administration in exchange for his scholarship.
The photograph was taken in Boston on Jan. 28, 1978, and shows Ma leaving the scene of a demonstration organized to protest against a fixed election in Taiwan.
"Many people were blacklisted by the KMT administration as a result of tip-offs Ma provided," Yen said. "Ma has not apologized to the people of Taiwan, nor to those who were persecuted as a result of information he provided."
Yen called on Ma to face up to the past and apologize for his behavior, saying that if he failed to do so, he was not fit to run in the presidential election in 2008.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
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