The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) recent criticism of a production of VCD is damaging the freedom of speech and its Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) seems to be urging the restoration of censorship, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.
The VCDs, which were seized by Taoyuan police last Friday, were allegedly made to smear Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) and Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), both of whom are running for reelection in next month's polls.
On Wednesday, without having viewed any of the VCDs, Ma said the production of such material was one of the despicable strategies used by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to smear the KMT's candidates.
Lu said Ma has to provide evidence linking the production of the VCDs to the DPP.
"If Ma fails to bring up any evidence, he should apologize to the DPP," Lu said.
She made the remarks while convening a meeting for the Presidential Advisory Group on Human Rights.
Lu said the VCDs were seized without a search warrant and she called the action "inappropriate."
"I fully support the production of VCDs because the freedom of speech has to be respected. In other words, the police should have not seized them," Lu said.
She said the police should not conduct searches based only on claims made by political figures, such as Ma, Hu and Chu.
Lu said KMT politicians' criticism of the production of the VCDs implies that censorship remains necessary in Taiwan.
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In related news, DPP Secretary-General Lee Ying-yang (李逸洋) filed a lawsuit against Ma and KMT Spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) yesterday, claiming they had defamed and openly insulted the party.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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