Leaders of the KMT and PFP yesterday challenged President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to elaborate on his Sunday remark that "Taiwan would go its own way," which they suspect indicates Chen's intention to promote independence for Taiwan.
"We regret that he spoke such language on the first day in office as [DPP] chairman," said KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
"As a party chairman, he should articulate clearly what he means, instead of keeping people guessing," Lien added.
Lien was referring to Chen's inauguration speech as the 10th DPP chairman on Sunday, in which Chen said Taiwan would have to seriously consider going its own way unless China responded to its goodwill. The talk was Chen's immediate response to China's latest diplomatic attack against Taiwan -- giving money so that Nauru would switch recognition to Beijing.
Disapproving of Chen's position on the case, Lien said a country should not change its path because of the policy of another country.
Lien said China's isolation of Taiwan "has not started today" but has continued for decades.
The KMT, when it was in power in the past, had struggled for the country's survival despite China's military threat and diplomatic isolation, he said.
On Chen's proposition to hold a summit with opposition leaders to seek ruling-opposition reconciliation, Lien said it would be impossible for his party to join the DPP if Chen were to lead the country todisaster.
If Chen truly wanted to meet with the opposition leaders, the DPP's pro-independence platform would be a key issue that should be raised for discussion because the opposition parties are interested to know when the DPP would abolish such a platform, Lien suggested.
Sharing a similar view, PFP Chairman James Soong (
Chen Shih-meng said last week that the political summit should be held under an "anti-one China" premise.
"If we take part in the meeting without seeking a clarification of this question first, we will be betraying the Republic of China," Soong said.
The KMT and PFP have stuck to a "one China" principle, under which Taipei and Beijing are allowed to have different interpretations of its meaning. On the side of Taipei, the two parties insist that the "Republic of China" -- Taiwan's official designation -- represents China.
Soong noted that President Chen never mentioned "Republic of China" in his speech, when he was expecting other countries to recognize Taiwan.
"This is a dead-end path that will lead the Taiwanese people to destruction and war," Soong warned.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,