Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) yesterday warned Beijing to keep its hands off the presidential election, one day after Shanghai authorities banned KMT supporters from campaigning in that city.
Lien told a campaign rally in Taipei that China's behavior in the run-up to the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections had aroused deep antipathy.
"I would like to ask the Chinese authorities not to interfere in Taiwan's election," he said.
He dismissed President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) allegation that the KMT has won favor from China and Taiwanese fugitives living there because the party is on their side.
Lien called on Chen not to manipulate anti-China sentiment by emphasizing Beijing's interference in the election.
"Chen should instead tell the people what he has done over the past four years," Lien said.
Zhang Mingqing (張銘清), a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of China's State Council, said yesterday that China-based Taiwanese businesspeople need to obtain official permission to organize campaign groups.
"The TAO is not the agency to authorize such activities ? So far, the government has not received any application to form campaign groups," he said, commenting on Shanghai's ban on a political meeting by supporters of the pan-blue camp.
Former justice minister Liao Cheng-hao (廖正豪) was one of the organizers of that meeting.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) criticized Lien and his running mate, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), yesterday for sending Liao to solicit the votes of China-based Taiwanese.
According to Lin, Liao began his campaigning activities in China after the pan-blue camp obtained Beijing's consent. Lin said that the TAO had allowed the pan-blue camp to set up a supporters association near its office in Beijing and he urged China and the pan-blue camp to unveil their "secret deal."
"The TAO should explain why it did not prohibit the establishment of the supporters association and only voiced opposition to it after it opened," Lin said.
He said it appears Beijing is trying to influence the election by allowing Taiwanese fugitives to campaign for the pan-blue camp. China should repatriate these criminals to prove it is not trying affect the election, Lin said.
Zhang said China would neither comment nor interfere with the election, rebuffing criticism from Taipei that Beijing has plotted a number of events with Taiwanese businesspeople to influence the poll. He also denied that the TAO had any role in former Tuntex chairman Chen Yu-hao's (
Media reports have suggested the revelations were partly encouraged by mid-ranking TAO officials. Zhang stressed it was the Chen Yu-hao's idea to disclose the donation.
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