Home is "the place where family bones lie," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
The former KMT chairman was born in Hong Kong in 1950 to parents who were post-war immigrants from China.
His father is buried in Taipei.
Talking about the idea of "Taiwan identity," Ma cited a speech titled "Who are the French?" made by French President Nicolas Sarkozy during his presidential election campaign earlier in this year.
In his speech, Sarkozy said that "What makes us French is not only that we were born in France but also that we choose to stay in France."
Sarkozy is the son of a Hungarian immigrant father and his mother is the daughter of a Greek immigrant.
Sarkozy's family "was not born in France but decided to stay in that country because they love France and the people who live there," Ma said.
"They are French people because they chose to fight alongside people living in that land for a better life," Ma said.
"Why can't we do as the French?" Ma asked, in reference to longstanding disagreements between weishengren (外省人) -- people who immigrated from China near the end of the Civil War, along with their descendants -- and the benshengren (本省人), who came to Taiwan from China hundreds of years ago.
The Republic of China government has existed in Taiwan for 57 years since its relocation by the KMT administration in 1949, Ma said, citing a local poet who wrote: "Homeland is where a man has stayed for long."
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
RSS