Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential nominee Ma Ying-jeou's (
"If Taiwan were truly Ma's homeland as he claims, then why doesn't the word `Taiwan' appear on his father's urn? Instead, the inscription only mentions building a greater China," Chen said.
Chen said the inscription on Ma Ho-ling's (
Ma Ying-jeou's camp immediately struck back, calling Chen "malevolent and disrespectful" for using a deceased individual as a political hatchet.
"What Chen did today was completely against the principles of benevolence, honesty and forgiveness that are so deeply rooted in the Taiwanese spirit," said Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Ma Ying-jeou's running mate.
A KMT heavyweight, Ma Ho-ling occupied several high-ranking party positions. He passed away in November 2005.
Ma Ho-ling's intimate connections with the family of former dictator Chiang Kai-shek (
Chen's comments came in response to the KMT candidate's emotional plea to voters on Saturday, during which he said he loved Taiwan and identified with it.
Ma Ying-jeou also said that although his heritage is Chinese, he is genuinely Taiwanese.
"There is an ancient saying that home is where your loved ones are buried and my beloved father is buried in Taipei City," Ma said.
Chen scoffed at Ma Ying-jeou's remarks, saying he should not woo voters by lying to them.
"If Ma truly identifies with Taiwan, then why doesn't he speak up about Taiwan being his home? How can Taiwan be his homeland if we only see a call for a stronger China and reunification [on the urn]? Is Taiwan his first homeland or his second, third, or fourth?" the president asked.
Ma Ying-jeou, who was born in Hong Kong, did not respond personally to Chen's remarks, but his spokesman Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強), admonished Chen, asking him to remember his role as the nation's chief before making any disrespectful comments in the future.
"We fully respect everyone's freedom of speech and their right to agree or disagree. But apparently Chen has forgotten the fact that when he speaks, he speaks in the capacity of the leader of this country. It is malevolent of him to completely disregard the Taiwanese tradition of showing respect to the dead," Luo said.
Luo said the phrase about unifying with China on the urn signified Ma Ho-ling's belief that Taiwan's future must be one of "gentle development."
Moreover, Luo said that Ma Ying-jeou had been very clear on his stance on the nation's sovereignty, adding that the KMT candidate believes the future of Taiwan must be decided by its 23 million inhabitants.
Ma has always been in favor of maintaining the "status quo," he said, while urging Chen not to manipulate the truth.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
RSS