Meanwhile, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) yesterday dismissed a story in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) that he, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) were “lining up” to meet Chen.
“It’s a ridiculous and distorted comment. When I visited China in May, top Chinese officials held various banquets to welcome me. Can I say they were lining up to see me?” Wu said during a KMT central standing committee meeting.
In an interview with the Liberty Times, former MAC deputy chairman Chen Ming-tung (陳明通) condemned Wu, Lien, Wang and other KMT leaders for their eagerness to meet Chen Yunlin while ignoring the country’s dignity.
The KMT declined to comment on when Wu or Lien would meet Chen Yunlin.
Wu defended the ARATS chairman’s visit and urged the government to “protect legal activities and clamp down on illegal moves” during the visit.
Chiang, who also serves as KMT vice chairman, pledged in the committee to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty during his meeting with Chen Yunlin.
In response to a call by the DPP on party members to carry national flags to protest the visit, KMT spokesman Lee Chieng-jung (李建榮) ridiculed the move and said the DPP should hang national flags in front of its headquarters if it really valued them.
National Security Bureau Deputy Director-General Lin Cheng-tung (林成東) and National Police Agency Deputy Director-General Hsieh Hsiu-neng (謝秀能) yesterday morning led a team of 60 officers on an inspection at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Hsieh said the inspection was part of measures to ensure that everything goes according to plan upon Chen Yunlin’s arrival.
In Hsinchu City yesterday afternoon, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said Taiwan did not welcome Chen Yunlin and that the public should turn to more dramatic actions and protests if the top negotiator insisted on coming.
“He should be arrested as soon as he arrives in Taiwan,” he said. “How can we let a communist bandit run free?”
“Some have proposed that President Ma Ying-jeou should be sued for colluding with the enemy because he is attempting to make the ROC part of the People’s Republic of China,” he said.
“Both are subject to a life or death sentence according to Article 104 of the Criminal Code,” Chen Shui-bian said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JIMMY CHUANG
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