Chinese dissident and writer Cao Changqing (
Cao said that there were many similarities between the anti-Chen campaign launched by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (
Cao made the remarks at a forum hosted in Taipei by the media watchdog group Taiwan Society Herald (previously referred to as the "Bugle Society" in Taipei Times reports).
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Cao, who experienced firsthand the cruelty of the Cultural Revolution as a young man, said that he had a sense of deja vu when seeing the anti-Chen campaign being waged in Taipei.
"It was a brutal age for China. It was an age full of hatred, anger and anxiety. I feel sad to see the `red' trend reappear in Taiwan," Cao said. "What I see in this anti-Chen campaign is that a handful of people are taking advantage of the masses to attain their political aims and destroy their political enemies, which is very similar to the Cultural Revolution."
Cao said that there were five ways in which the anti-Chen campaign echoed the Cultural Revolution.
First, the campaign was attempting to replace the rule of law with moral judgment and second, it was attempting to use mass movements instead of institutional reform to tackle problems.
Third, Cao said, the anti-Chen campaign was smearing its enemies with irresponsible accusations.
The campaign was convicting people in the court of public opinion, and employing the powerful influence of the mass media to create a "false majority," Cao said.
Noting that Chen was democratically elected as Taiwan's president with 6.4 million votes, Cao argued that Chen should be ousted through democratic procedures if, as Shih alleges, he is found to be corrupt.
"I think the pan-blue camp should take advantage of its legislative majority to revise the recall laws," Cao said. "It is unreasonable for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Lu Shih-hsiang (
"No wonder some people say that the headquarters of the anti-Chen movement is not on Ketagalan Boulevard, but within some news stations," Lu said.
also see story:
Editorial: Who's afraid of lunch-box politics?
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS