The abusive language and hostile rhetoric used by many pan-green supporters is harmful to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration's goal of forging a unified national identity for Taiwan, academics said yesterday.
At a seminar held to discuss the DPP's plan of codifying the spirit of ethnic equality in the party charter, Lee Chien-hung (李健鴻), a professor at Da Yeh University, yesterday suggested that party officials discourage its followers from using "socially exclusive language" toward Mainlanders living in Taiwan.
"The use of derogatory terms such as `Mainlander pigs go back to China' or saying someone was `selling out' Taiwan ... has caused a negative psychological impact on Mainlanders and led to their mistrust of the DPP government," Lee said.
The seminar, presided over by DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), with high-ranking party officials and academics taking part as guest speakers, was designed to come up with policy suggestions to ease the ethnic confrontations between Hoklo Taiwanese and Mainlanders in the wake of the March 20 presidential election.
Although DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (
Lee Chien-hung said that DPP authorities should take steps to prevent and discourage divisive remarks.
Chang Mao-keui (
Lee Chien-hung suggested that the DPP take concrete steps to embrace the Mainlander community and highlight the value of their contributions.
Preserving Mainlander culture and villages, as the government did for the Hakka and Aboriginal cultures, would be conducive to ethnic harmony, Lee said.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS