Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) questioning the loyalty of the nation's representative to the US was "feudalistic" and "autocratic," Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday.
"It's inappropriate for him, someone who holds a doctorate in political science and a party leader, to have such feudalistic thinking," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) quoted Yu as saying.
"How do you expect civil servants to concentrate on their work if they have to go through loyalty checks whenever there's a transfer of power?" Yu was quoted as saying.
He made the remarks yesterday morning during the weekly closed-door Cabinet meeting in response to statements made by Lien while in the US.
Lien left for New York on Tuesday to attend a memorial service for former first lady Soong Mayling (
Lien had earlier questioned the loyalty of Taiwan's representative to the US, Chen Chien-jen (
When asked whether he would meet Chen while in the US, Lien said he wasn't sure whether he had the honor to do so.
"An ancient Chinese poem reads, `Strong winds test the tenacity of grass,' and I believe you know the rest," he said.
Lien was referring to the poem, entitled Shih Hsiao Yu (
The poem says, "Strong winds test the tenacity of grass, political unrest examines the loyalty of officials. Ordinary people may not know the true meaning of loyalty, only wise men with benevolence in mind do."
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), now in Alaska, praised Chen Chien-jen's performance during his two-night stopover in New York.
Chen Shui-bian said that the success of the transit stop should be attributed to the efforts of people like Chen Chien-jen.
Chen Chien-jen was a KMT member and failed to re-register as a party member after being appointed representative to the US in 2000 when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power.
President Chen also expressed his sympathy for Chen Chien-jen's wife, Yolanda Ho (
Calling Lien's remark "feudalistic" and "inappropriate," Yu said that the poem was written in a feudal era to highlight officials' loyalty to the emperor.
"In a democratic country, I don't think it's appropriate to make such a remark and it displays autocratic thinking to question a civil servant's loyalty while the person exerts himself in the interest of the country," Yu said.
The founding father of the ROC, Dr. Sun Yat-sen (
"He told us that loyalty and filial duty should be applied to the nation's 400 million people, not to a particular leader, party or individual," he said.
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