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."
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
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