Lawmakers yesterday asked the Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) to remove officials who “disgraced the nation” last month when they reportedly met with Chinese officials at a gala to promote the unification of Taiwan and China.
Former OCAC minister Wu Ying-yih (吳英毅), OCAC members Wang Wei (王維) and Chou Shem-mong (周賢孟) and nine other council advisers on May 25 led a group of Taiwanese-Americans to China to meet with Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO) Deputy Director Tan Tianxing (譚天星), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers told a news conference yesterday.
The meeting, attended by Taiwan Benevolent Association of America (全美台灣同鄉聯誼會) members, was featured on Chinese government Web sites, with Tan telling the visitors that “a complete unification of the motherland is a shared hope of Chinese people in China and overseas.”
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“When the nation is in a life-and-death struggle diplomatically, they are seeing eye to eye” with China, DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said.
The nine OCAC advisers are working in non-paid, honorary positions at the council, Lo said.
Wang and Chou, who are based in the US, were subsidized by the government to participate in the Global Conference on Overseas Compatriot Affairs in Kaohsiung last month, but they also and visited China, which Lo said amounted to abusing taxpayers’ money.
There used to be a three-year travel restriction on China-bound visits by minister-level officials, including OCAC ministers.
However, Wu shortened the restriction to one year during his term, which Lo said was aimed at facilitating his visits to China.
Lo asked the OCAC to extend the restriction period to three years or more to prevent council officials, who have access to confidential information, from visiting China.
DPP Legislator Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said the timing of the visit coincided with the government’s bid to seek participation in the World Health Assembly, which was obstructed by Beijing, and that the OCAC officials were acting against the government’s efforts.
Wang, Chou and other OCAC advisers were appointed by former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
Chuang asked that the council dismiss them immediately.
The council was given advance notice of the visit, but was unable to prevent it despite OCAC Minister Wu Hsin-hsing’s (吳新興) personal attempt to dissuade the members, OCAC Vice Minister Roy Yuan-Rong Leu (呂元榮) said.
The visit was the individual action of some overseas Taiwanese rather than a regular pattern of behavior of the overseas community, Leu said.
The council would take disciplinary measures against the visiting members to prevent such “disorderly behavior,” he added.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
RSS