Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday apologized for controversial remarks he made on Tuesday when he described independence advocates as “idiots.”
In a press release Wu said he was sorry for using the term “idiots” to describe people who seek independence for Taiwan and that he took it back.
His apology, however, came hours after several attempts to defend his remarks.
PHOTO: CNA
Wu said during an interview with the UFO Network on Tuesday: “If you want to talk about unification, nobody will support it. You don’t have the capability to unify [China] and you don’t want to be unified by it. Declaring independence is unnecessary because the ROC [Republic of China] is already an independent, sovereign nation. If you want to found a country with a different national title, it will only create division at home and stir tensions abroad. Only irresponsible people or idiots would want to seek independence [for Taiwan].”
Approached by reporters yesterday morning, Wu at first defended himself, saying what he meant was that the ROC has been an independent state since 1912.
Wu spoke to reporters before attending an event at the National Central Library in Taipei to promote the Act Governing Execution of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (公民與政治權利國際公約及經濟社會文化權利國際公約施行法), which goes into effect today.
He said he firmly believed in the “three noes” principle espoused by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), referring to Ma’s pledge not to discuss unification with Beijing during his presidency, not to pursue or support Taiwanese independence and not to resort to military force to resolve the Taiwan issue.
He said the administration’s position is to maintain the “status quo,” adding that all cross-strait policies must be based on the principle that Taiwan is always the focus and public interest comes first.
Wu said he respected the freedom of those who seek independence for Taiwan and such a right should be protected by the government.
However, as the premier of the ROC, Wu said his responsibility was to safeguard the ROC — not to seek unification or independence.
“It is my fundamental belief that protecting Taiwan means defending the sovereignty integrity of the ROC and the safety and well-being of the 23 million people of Taiwan,” he said.
While some reporters still questioned whether the term “idiot” was too strong, Wu said it was “not good” to focus only on a single word and that what he said referred to two groups of people — those who were “irresponsible or idiots.”
“When I say you are either a boy or a girl, I don’t necessarily say you are a girl,” Wu added.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) panned Wu’s comment and criticized the government for “burying its head in the sand” when it comes to the nation’s sovereignty.
“It is unthinkable that a senior government leader could be so self-defeating. This kind of mentality is completely unacceptable,” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said.
Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲), another DPP lawmaker, said Wu’s statement was discriminatory to all Taiwanese people who view themselves as citizens of a sovereign state and called on the premier to recant his words.
DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said it was an indisputable fact that the ROC is an independent, sovereign country and if Wu has any doubt on the country’s status, then he should consider stepping down.
“Since he believes that people who support independence are idiots, does that mean he is the idiotic premier leading an idiotic government?” Tsai said.
Later yesterday, the Government Information Office issued a statement saying Wu considered the words “or idiots” to be “unnecessary words.”
The statement said Wu would like to take back “or idiots” because the term was inconsistent with his “mild” and “harmonious” style.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU
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
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new
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