Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday called for “communication” within the party after former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who is in the US, accused her of being “out of tune” with the KMT.
“Hung is out of tune with the KMT, it is not that I have a tune different from hers,” Wu said on Thursday in an interview with KTSF, an Asian affairs TV station in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Wu was speaking about the passage of the KMT’s new policy platform initiated by Hung that calls for a deepening of the so-called “1992 consensus” and no longer has “one China, different interpretations” in its text, a move that has been interpreted as a step closer to the “one China, same interpretation” framework.
Photo: CNA
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
“Chairwoman Hung has made changes to the ‘1992 consensus’ and ‘one China, different interpretations,’ a basic principle [of the party] that cannot be severed and that the KMT has insisted on for many years, at least in the past eight years,” Wu told KTSF. “The problem lies with her, not us.”
The KMT replaced Hung as presidential candidate last year precisely because Hung proposed “one China, same interpretation,” Wu said.
“How could you have ‘same interpretation’? Is it possible for [China] to recognize that ‘one China’ is the Republic of China? Impossible. So ‘same interpretation’ means ‘one China’ would be the People’s Republic of China. [Hung] raised the idea of ‘one China, same interpretation’ and did not [waver from her position] so a resolution was made to replace her,” Wu said.
Wu denied that his remarks had anything to do with the possibility of seeking the KMT chairmanship.
“I did not tell you whether I would run for chairmanship,” he said in response to reporters’ questions over whether he would change the platform if elected chairman.
Hung yesterday said that the policy platform was passed by the party’s national congress and was the result of drawn-out discussions in the party’s Central Standing Committee.
Those who reviewed the platform should all know what it is about, Hung said, adding that “one China, different interpretations” has not been removed from the text.
“We are responsible for making it clearer,” she said, adding that as a fellow party member she would undertake better communication with Wu when he returns to Taiwan.
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