Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday came under fire over scornful remarks she made about long-time human rights activist Peter Huang (黃文雄), who received an Alumni Excellence Award from National Chengchi University earlier this month.
Huang was a key figure in an assassination attempt on Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), son of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), in New York in 1970, when Taiwan was ruled by an authoritarian KMT regime.
“Why was a [would-be] assassin who tried to kill former president Chiang given an excellent alumni award? Was there any reason to justify [the attempted] killing? I have two sisters graduating from National Chengchi University and they are more excellent than [Huang] because they at least are not killers,” Hung said in a speech at a forum organized by the university to discuss issues related to Chinese students studying in Taiwan.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said Hung’s comments were “inappropriate.”
“Since Hung is a deputy speaker of the legislature, she should shed her personal ideological beliefs when commenting on history. It was also inappropriate for her to intervene in university affairs. Universities should be kept independent of political influence,” Kuan said.
“It seems that Hung still lives in the Martial Law era,” National Chengchi University sociology professor Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華) said. “She has to let her brain evolve to be more receptive to universal values and democratic ideas, rather than sticking to the interpretation of history advocated by the KMT.”
In the face of authoritarianism, it was the courage of those brave enough to take revolutionary measures against tyrants that brought democracy to their countries, Ku said, citing former South African president Nelson Mandela as an example.
Huang returned to Taiwan in 1996, after being forced into exile for 25 years. He was the last of a large group of blacklisted political dissidents denied entry to the country. He has since dedicated himself to human rights activism.
Huang yesterday said he was not surprised by Hung’s remarks because people have different views in a democracy.
Reciting the third paragraph of the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — “Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law” — Huang said his actions in 1970 were based on this belief.
Later yesterday, Hung said her comments on the case were meant to arouse discussion about “whether education should encourage violence.”
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS