Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) says in his new book, which hit the shelves yesterday, that he regrets helping Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) advance her political career to eventually become chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The 335-page Voices that Can’t Be Locked Up, Chen’s second book penned while in jail on graft charges, is a collection of 50 letters by Chen to himself, his family and other politicians, including President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
Chen writes that if he had not nominated Tsai as a legislator-at-large in 2004, Tsai would not be the DPP chairperson today and newspapers would not be attacking the party as lacking strong leadership.
“I understand that the chairperson has always wanted to sever relations with me ... But the cases involving me — whether the state affairs fund or the campaign fund — were the products of history,” he writes in a letter to Tsai. “Why are you so lacking in self-confidence? Why are you letting people create divisions so easily?”
DPP Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said Tsai was puzzled by Chen’s criticism and “could not accept” it.
Her participation in the 2004 legislative election “boosted the party’s morale,” Cheng said. “What we need right now is party unity, not infighting.”
Secretary of Chen’s office Chiang Chih-ming (江志銘) yesterday said it was understandable that Chen felt this way because he had repeatedly told aides that Tsai had not visited him at the Taipei Detention Center, where he has been held since December.
In another letter, addressed to himself, Chen berates himself for not achieving independence.
“You didn’t declare Taiwan independent and hold a referendum on independence. You could have done it, but you didn’t and you let the Taiwanese people down,” he writes.
Chen blames himself for not doing enough to achieve transitional justice and retrieve the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) stolen assets.
In a letter to Hu, Chen says Beijing shunned his government because he stood by Taiwan’s sovereignty and accuses his successor, Ma, of going soft on China.
Chen’s other recent book, a prison diary titled Taiwan’s Cross, was published on Jan. 19 and has sold 39,000 copies, his office said.
The former president is set to appear in court again today in his trial on embezzlement and money-laundering charges — the first of several cases implicating the former first family.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
RSS