"Life is precious, think for two more minutes -- you don't have to kill yourself," Buddhist Master Sheng Yen (
Words of wisdom from an old master, it's a statement that local politicians should keep in mind when making rash comments, such as threatening suicide, academics said yesterday.
After coming under fire from both the pan-blue and pan-green camps for barging into Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (
Fa quit his position as KMT caucus whip on Thursday and his membership in the KMT on Friday as an expression of apology for the potential damage he might have inflicted on Ma's election bid.
Fai is not the only politician who has offered to end his life.
One day after Fai made such a remark, KMT Vice Chairman John Kuan (
Many also remember that last October, a Central Election Commission member recommended by the People First Party, Chao Shu-chien (
Seppuku is a Japanese ritual of committing suicide by disembowelment.
The commission did proceed to have a vote on it, and Chao didn't follow through on his word, dismissing it later as a mere joke.
Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒), dean of the College of Indigenous Studies at National Donghwa University, said yesterday that seppuku is a Japanese ritual to show that a person is ashamed of his own actions.
"It's sacred and is morally very symbolic; however, the politicians have made such vows a joke," he said.
Tseng Chien-yuan (
"Public issues should be discussed rationally in society," Tseng said. "Threatening to commit suicide is more like what terrorists or extremists would do."
While such rash words by politicians may have an impact on their supporters to a certain degree, especially during a period when tempers are running high as the election approaches, Tseng said that making such comments "would create an atmosphere of unrest in society, which is certainly negative."
Kuan Chung-hsiang (
"Politicians set bad examples by using provocative language that would only heighten the political standoff," he said. "Younger politicians or voters may learn from them, and it's not a good thing."
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
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