Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
"[The DPP] is a governing party that fails to make progress. It is just exploiting a historical scar and doesn't dare face up to the corruption of its administration over the past seven years," Ma said in Lishan (
Ma was responding to criticism the DPP leveled at the KMT on Saturday at a Taipei event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the lifting of martial law.
At the event, DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) compared the KMT to a "caretaker who harmed our people, raped our daughters and stole our property," adding that the public must not allow the "caretaker" to administer the country again.
Ma slammed Hsieh for his remarks, saying he "was surprised to hear Hsieh speak ill of others, because Hsieh is religious."
Ma also challenged Hsieh's idea of "reconciliation and coexistence," calling it "hollow words."
"The DPP is the governing party now. If it wants to attack the opposition, it should prove that the DPP can do better than the opposition instead of exploiting history," Ma said.
"The fact that the KMT was bad in the past doesn't prove the DPP is good now," Ma said.
"The KMT has stepped down [following the 2000 presidential election] and has reflected on its conduct during the martial law period," he said.
In response, Hsieh said yesterday while visiting Sanchong (
While speaking with 15 victims of political persecution during the martial law era, Hsieh showed them statistics over political persecution cases from the period.
The entire families of those individuals targeted for persecution also suffered, Hsieh said.
Hsieh said the victims should forgive their persectors but never forget.
"Those who forget history will be forgotten by history. Those who abandon history will be abandoned by history," Hsieh said.
"Those who have harmed others are in no position to ask their victims to forget."
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS