The DPP yesterday modified its recently launched TV advertisement, which has sparked a controversy over its use of the image of former German chancellor Adolf Hitler.
The words, "[His] authoritarian rule led to catastrophe (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Next to former US president John F. Kennedy, the words, "A democracy should speak up (
Cheng, accompanied by Corey Chen (
"We talked through our previous misunderstanding during the visit," Cheng said after his meeting with the office's representative, Menashe Zipori.
"The office fully respects our decision to modify the commercial and continue to air the modified version," Cheng said.
"So, to date, we don't have any plan to cancel the advertising campaign," Cheng added.
Zipori, however, yesterday told the Taipei Times, "I still suggest that the party take Hitler's image off [the commercial] as a way to avoid further misunderstanding." He added that he just learned of the party's motivation for making the commercial after his meeting with Cheng.
"Such things are still offensive to the families of those people killed [by the Nazis] who still live around us and some of them even live here in Taiwan," Zipori said yesterday.
The Israeli representative added that he hoped young Taiwanese people could learn from history and understand the pain of the Jewish people.
Zipori said that if he were Taiwanese, he wouldn't want to see former Taiwanese leaders associated with "such a monster as Hitler," either. But he said he wouldn't do anything further to reverse the party's final decision, since Taiwan is a democratic country.
Responding to Zipori, Cheng said that the party did not intend to remove Hitler's image from its advertisement, though he added, "We need to further seek the [party's] secretary-general's instructions."
Cheng said that he would arrange a meeting with staff at the German Cultural Center in Taipei to offer the party's explanation and present its modified version of the advertisement.
The DPP began airing the controversial commercial on July 12 to encourage directors under the age of 30 to shoot films for the party that boldly express their own ideas about Taiwanese society and local politics without fear of causing offense or challenging accepted wisdom.
Within two days, however, negative reactions had been voiced by the local Jewish community and foreign human-rights groups, including the Anti-Defamation League in New York and the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
‘REALLY PROUD’: Nvidia would not be possible without Taiwan, Huang said, adding that TSMC would be increasing its capacity by 100 percent Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday praised and lightly cajoled his major Taiwanese suppliers to produce more to help power strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI), capping a visit to the country of his birth, where he has been mobbed by adoring fans at every step. Speaking at an impromptu press conference in the rain outside a Taipei restaurant, where he had hosted suppliers for a “trillion-dollar dinner,” named after the market capitalization of those firms attending, Huang said this would be another good year for business. “TSMC needs to work very hard this year because I need a lot
RSS