Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday presidential candidates from opposition forces should stand firm on Taiwan’s sovereignty and denied ever suggesting that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should team up in the presidential election next year.
On his Facebook page, Lee said the opposition parties should choose presidential candidates that will insist on the nation’s sovereignty, strive for the future of the nation and be able to win the battle against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who will seek re-election.
“We need to unite and make Taiwan’s interests the priority in order to abandon Ma, save Taiwan and expand our support base. I was talking about the principles, and not about whether political parties or any politicians should team up for the election,” Lee said.
The former president posted his comments on Facebook a day after Japanese magazine WiLL ran an interview.
In the interview published on Thursday, Lee was quoted as saying that the timing wasn’t ripe for DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to run for president and he suggested that the DPP could choose a vice presidential -candidate to pair up with a KMT presidential candidate.
He was also quoted in the interview as saying that Tsai might risk repeating the mistakes of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and would be unable to carry out policies in a minority government if she ran for president next year.
Lee said yesterday that it did not matter how the presidential and vice presidential candidates are chosen or whether political parties cooperate in the presidential election next year.
“For the battle in 2012, pro--localization forces should unite and take over power with an absolute majority so we can continue reform, promote Taiwan consciousness and pursue Taiwan’s normalization,” he said in the Facebook post.
Commenting on the subject, KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) yesterday said the party would not discuss candidates for the presidential election at this time, because it was focusing its efforts on improving the lives of the public as the ruling party.
“Thinking about the arrangements for the 2012 presidential candidates is against public expectations. The KMT’s priority is to improve people’s lives and strive for economic prosperity,” he said.
DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌), meanwhile, said yesterday that the DPP has its own nomination system for choosing a presidential candidate.
Lin said a meeting has been set for Jan. 22 for the DPP to discuss its nomination mechanism and other matters concerning next year’s presidential campaign.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS