Former president Lee Teng-hui (
"Taiwan's businessmen have been saying recently that China is demanding that they not support Lee Ying-yuan in the Taipei mayoral race," Lee said at a gathering to celebrate lawyers' day.
President Chen Shui-bian (
"Beijing has also used [the election] as an opportunity to ask Taiwanese businessmen to declare that they support `one China' and oppose Taiwan's independence," Lee said.
Taiwan's businessmen say the Chinese government will give them better treatment if they agree to cooperate, otherwise, they'll have their factories inspected and checkbooks audited, Lee added.
With the mayoral election approaching, the DPP is worried that Lee's popularity lags behind his rival, Ma Ying-jeou, (
The former president's statement is believed to be a ploy to boost the sagging popularity of the DPP candidate.
Ma beat Chen, then the DPP's candidate, by a narrow margin four years ago, partly due to Lee Teng-hui's backing.
But this year the former president has switched his support to Lee Ying-yuan after he split from the KMT following Lien Chan's (
The retired president, who is said to influence around 5 percent of Taipei voters, has promised to stump for Lee Ying-yuan.
This is not the first time Taiwanese leaders have accused Beijing of meddling in the nation's politics.
After the legislative election last year, Chen said that during the campaign Beijing had provided financial support to certain opposition candidates.
Despite strained relations with Beijing, China remains the first choice for investment for Taiwan's businessmen due to its cheap labor and common language. But Lee Teng-hui has strongly opposed the "China fever."
He warned yesterday that China's ambition to bring Taiwan into its fold never ceases. Taiwan would risk losing its lifeline if Taiwanese continue to invest in China irrespective of the reality, he said.
Taiwan's mass investment in China has greatly impacted both the nation's economy and its politics, Lee said.
Economically, the investment has caused an exodus of talent and capital, whereas on the political front, Taiwanese are encountering a grave identity crisis.
He urged the people to bravely "walk our own path, the path different from the one of China," echoing Chen's recent rhetoric.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching