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.
The military yesterday showed off its latest domestically produced armored vehicle, the CM-34 Clouded Leopard, at a remote manufacturing site in the nation’s central mountains. Taiwan has been eager to demonstrate its resolve to defend itself should China ever attack. Those fears have become more pronounced over the past few years as Beijing has stepped up military activities near Taiwan. While Taiwan relies on the US for many of its weapons, such as fighter jets, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been pushing for a greater emphasis on Taiwanese-designed and made armaments, the most high profile of which is new submarines. The eight-wheeled CM-34,
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin for disparaging Taiwan’s sovereignty by saying that Taiwan issues are “China’s internal affairs.” The ministry strongly condemned Putin’s “false” remarks that “undermined the sovereignty of the Republic of China,” ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news briefing. Xinhua news agency cited Putin as telling Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a telephone call on Wednesday that Russia opposed any interference from external forces in China’s internal affairs, such as in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Ou said that Taiwanese elect their government in free and fair elections, adding that only the
‘DEMOCRATIC FISH’: Soichiro Hayashi said he wants to return Taiwan’s kindness after it helped with relief efforts after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami Japanese fish farmers are ready to help Taiwan after China banned Taiwanese grouper imports, the Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday. The Chinese General Administration of Customs suspended imports of the fish on Monday last week, citing prohibited chemicals and excessive levels of oxytetracycline allegedly found in grouper imports since December last year. Soichiro Hayashi, president of the Hayashi Trout Farm in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, is leading the push for Taiwanese grouper imports, the newspaper said. His call has caught the attention of several large sushi chains, the report said. Hayashi, who is the Fukushima branch head of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Japan,
‘TROJAN HORSE’ SCHEME: The comment that a bridge would allow China’s PLA to easily launch an attack shows ‘a lack of backbone,’ Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said Critics accused Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of being oblivious to national security concerns after he proposed constructing a bridge to link Kinmen and China’s Xiamen (廈門). Ko, who is also the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman, made the proposal when presiding over the opening ceremony of the party’s office in Kinmen on Saturday. He said the bridge could solve Kinmen’s population, electricity and garbage problems, as well as serve as a shortcut for leaving or entering Taiwan without traveling via Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport). He also proposed building a hospital in Kinmen to attract people who are seeking medical treatment in
RSS