Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday said that he was willing to take back remarks he made on Monday comparing President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former premier Willian Lai (賴清德) to characters from the Chinese classical novel Water Margin (水滸傳).
The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate compared a possible Tsai-Lai ticket for the Jan. 11 presidential election to characters Wu Dalang (武大郎) and his wife, Pan Jinlian (潘金蓮), saying: “Pan and Wu under the blanket; their heads lie on the same pillow, but their feet match not.”
Lai seems to be unhappy about having to cooperate with Tsai after the attacks he suffered from Tsai’s “cybertroops” when competing against her in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential primary this year, Han said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Tsai has called the remark "vulgar."
“If people think the remarks were too uncultured, I am willing to take them back,” Han told reporters at a news conference for the logo for his presidential campaign.
He had made the comparison to express his sense that Tsai and Lai were not on the same page about their collaboration, he said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
They are only cooperating to promote their political interests, unlike he and his vice presidential candidate, former premier Simon Chang (張善政), Han said.
“We have formed a team because of our shared concern about Taiwan’s future and we really want to see Taiwan improve,” he said.
In other developments, a coalition of civic groups accused Han’s wife, Lee Chia-fen (李佳芬), and Han’s campaign of distorting gender equality education.
Lee on Monday said that third-graders were taught about anal sex in school, citing a rumor she heard from parents, and Han’s team brought up sex education class in a misleading manner, Gender Equity Education Coalition project manager Lin Chun-yen (林均諺) said.
Han campaign office spokesman Ye Yuan-zhi (葉元之) on Tuesday said that a quick Google search shows that many parents have expressed concern over material presented in class.
The Ministry of Education has clarified that there is no material about anal sex in elementary-school textbooks and the teacher who has been implicated has explained that the rumor is untrue, Lin said.
“We believe that the KMT is using issue to garner votes,” said Tsao Cheng-hsi (曹承羲), a senior manager at the coalition.
Last month, the Gender Equity Education Coalition sent a letter to the presidential candidates, asking them to pledge that they would not spread rumors about homosexuals and help promote correct information about homosexuality, Tsao said.
While Tsai’s team said that it hopes to make Taiwan more friendly to people of different gender identities and eliminate gender discrimination, Han’s team did not respond, 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