President Chen Shui-bian (
"The economy is definitely important. But this is a presidential election and not a local poll. Taiwan's future, cross-strait relations and national sovereignty are a more important and serious issue than the economy," Chen said. "Don't treat the Taiwanese people as idiots, and don't deceive yourself and others by saying that identity is not an important issue."
Chen, who is in the Marshall Islands for a three-day visit, made the remarks at a press conference in response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (
Ma said on Friday that Hsieh should discuss the economy instead, quoting former US president Bill Clinton's campaign slogan -- "It's the economy, stupid!"
Hsieh also suggested then that the referendum proposal that draws the least amount of support from the public in a debate should be withdrawn.
Chen said yesterday that Ma had not changed his position on ultimately unifying with China, and that the KMT was a "unification party" because its party constitution embraced China as the "bible" and looked up to it as a standard that could not be challenged or altered.
He said Ma has claimed that Taiwan is the Republic of China (ROC) but dared not say the ROC is Taiwan. He added that when it comes to the issue of identity, Ma prevaricates and dwells on the economy.
"It is Ma who dares not say Taiwan, stupid!" Chen said. "Taiwan is an independent country and it is the public opinion. Why doesn't he have the guts to say so?"
Chen said Ma owed the public an explanation as to whether making more money and improving the economy was the only trick he could pull.
"Taiwanese favored me instead of my rivals, who issued plenty of campaign checks in the 2004 presidential election. I did not write any checks because I knew I would win," Chen said. "Now we know who is stupid."
He added that the DPP would not withdraw its referendum proposal because the party believed the public would support it.
In Taipei, Hsieh said that Ma could not understand why the country and its people so desperately needed dignity.
"Taiwan's economy is just a phenomenon; the source of the problem is politics," Hsieh said.
It is true that the economy is important, Hsieh said, but dignity and hope are also important.
"We are not pigs or other animals who do not care about the next generation and how to win the respect of others," he said.
Still using a crutch, Hsieh told a press conference that Ma has failed to understand that strong economic growth is not enough because the country has paid too high a price in the past.
What the nation needs instead is social welfare, a sustainable environment, cultural promotion and happiness, he said.
Comparing his cross-strait economic policy to Ma's, Hsieh said Ma's problem was he lacked a sense of national security.
Responding to Ma's challenge that he make clear whether he is running for president of the ROC or Taiwan, Hsieh said he is running for president of Taiwan but the name of the country, as stated in the Constitution, is the ROC.
Hsieh said he would like to know Ma's definition of the ROC and to explain whether the KMT's referendum proposal seeks reentry to the UN as a goal or is just an election gambit.
Ma yesterday shrugged off Hsieh's criticism, saying that a presidential candidate should pay more attention to the economy.
"I've realized during my long-stay program [around the country] that the people need better livelihoods and a better economy. That's what a presidential candidate should care about," Ma said after attending a municipal event at Taipei City Hall.
Ma declined to confirm whether or not he would accept Hsieh's invitation to debate the UN issue.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater