Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday welcomed Chinese netizens, after they flooded her official Facebook page with nearly 80,000 messages since late on Tuesday night.
“I would rather view this incident positively. We hope Chinese Internet users have the opportunity to browse the Facebook accounts of different people, and I welcome them to visit my Facebook page,” Tsai said in response to media queries about the outpouring as she headed to an afternoon meeting of the DPP Central Executive Committee at the party’s headquarters in Taipei.
The messages from Chinese criticized and insulted the DPP, Tsai and Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
Facebook user Zhang Dong (張東) posted a picture of the DPP’s flag surrounded by the People’s Republic of China flag, with the words “green maggots will be annihilated” written above it.
A message from Fang Ding (方定) said: “You say that there cannot be high-tech without you, why don’t you assemble your own helicopters? Can you make nuclear bombs? Can you launch satellites? Can you make aircraft carriers? Can you make nuclear submarines? Can you make stealth fighter jets?”
The flood of messages from Chinese netizens triggered counterattacks from Taiwanese, with some daring the Chinese to criticize the Chinese government, while others called on “Chinese bastards” to go away.
Tsai posted a message on Facebook welcoming “netizens from across the Taiwan Strait.”
“In Taiwan, we have many discussions on current issues on this platform [Facebook], the public even organizes civil actions through it,” Tsai wrote. “There are differences in opinion and a variety of voices, but we move toward a better society step by step through exchanges, discussions and debates.”
She said she welcomed “new friends” to see a democratic, free and diverse Taiwan.
DPP spokesperson Juan Chao-hsiung (阮昭雄) also extended a welcome to Chinese Facebook users on behalf of the party, adding that the DPP, respecting freedom of speech, would not delete any message or take legal action unless there were clear violations of the law.
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