Former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) yesterday said it is not defeatist to ask fellow Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members to put more effort into the party and be more vigilant as the KMT is feeling more pressure than usual regarding the seven-in-one elections on Nov. 27.
Hau’s remarks were the second in as many days that he spoke on the topic, in an apparent defense of his son, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who last week was accused of “defeatism” by KMT members for saying that “someone should be held accountable if the party loses the elections.”
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is also KMT chairman, warned against such comments, saying that people uttering words of no help to party solidarity should know their limits.
Photo: CNA
The 95-year-old former premier attempted to vindicate Hau Lung-bin’s comment in his speech at a Lunar New Year event held by the New Revolutionary Alliance (新同盟會) at the Armed Forces Officer’s Club in Taipei.
Ma and Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) also made an appearance at the event, but Hau Pei-tsun did not come face-to-face with Ma as he arrived after the president had left the venue.
Defeatism is capitulationism and the latter is characterized by Wang Jing-wei (汪精衛), better than by any Taiwanese figure, Hau Pei-tsun said.
Wang Jing-wei, a KMT member, formed a Japanese-supported collaborationist government in 1940 in China, when that country was at war with Japan, and is seen as a traitor by both the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party.
Hau Pei-tsun said that as the year-end elections approach, many harbor concerns over the KMT’s electoral outlook.
Someone who utters a warning about a looming electoral crisis is simply trying to caution party members and urge them to stay vigilant.
“How in the world is that a defeatist stance? Those who said that have no idea what defeatism means,” he said.
The senior Hau added that he has no problem with people criticizing his son, but claiming that the Taipei mayor is a defeatist is an outright mistake, an unjust accusation and “ignorant and childish.”
“Defeatism is a question of right and wrong, not of a family or an individual,” Hau Pei-tsun said.
He added that this year is a crucial year for the KMT and it must win in the coming elections.
He said that those who love Taiwan have to love the Republic of China (ROC) and only those who love the ROC truly love Taiwan.
ROC nationals are Chinese and those claiming that Taiwanese are not Chinese are the unworthy descendants of Zhonghua minzu (中華民族, Chinese ethnic group), he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique