The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus yesterday criticized the pan-blue camp for changing its political stance from fighting against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to currying favor with Beijing.
Singing an old military song taught at schools and commonly broadcast on TV under Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule, DPP caucus whips William Lai (賴清德) and Jao Yung-ching (趙永清) said the generation educated under the KMT regime was well aware of the lyrics, which exhort the citizenry to fight communism and "reclaim the mainland."
"We're sorry to see the pan-blue camp becoming a toady for China," Jao said. "We're worried that they would give away the nation's sovereignty and kowtow to Beijing if it one day seizes power."
Jao cited the possible visit to Taiwan by Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, saying that the pan-blue camp cut the budget of the Mainland Affairs Council simply to "suck up" to Chen.
Chen has been invited by the KMT to attend a forum the party will host with the CCP next month in Taipei.
Taiwan said prior negotiations are necessary to review Chen's visa application.
The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) yesterday wrote a second letter to its counterpart in China, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, urging its officials to start negotiations with Taiwan on the matter of Chen's request to visit Taiwan.
The second letter was sent given the Taiwan Affairs Office's slow response to the SEF's first letter, which was sent on Monday.
Jao added that the pan-blue alliance should stop complaining about being described as putting on a "red hat," implying a link to the Chinese Communist Party, as that was "what they do by buttering up Beijing."
Jao called on the pan-blue camp to take into account what the people of Taiwan really need and to give Taiwanese an opportunity to choose whether they want to be the master of their land or the subject of an authoritarian regime.
Lai, meanwhile, said that although former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
Alluding to a remark made by US President George W. Bush, who on Wednesday praised Taiwan's democratic development, Lai said he hoped the pan-blue alliance would listen to what Bush says and help China become a more democratic country rather than help China attack Taiwan.
In response, KMT caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) dismissed the DPP's criticism as an "election gimmick."
Pan said that as the DPP administration is not fit to govern the country, it does what it can to smear the opposition parties with black paint (referring to the allegation of black-gold politics), yellow paint (sex scandals) and red paint (intimacy with China).
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
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