Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday lashed out at Cabinet Secretary-General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川) for his comment that the DPP was a “party of violence” and demanded an apology.
Reporting to the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee for the first time following the comment earlier this month, Hsueh was grilled by DPP legislators the moment he stepped into the meeting room.
On Oct. 3, Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) attended a press conference held by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus to promote milk and bread produced locally amid China’s tainted milk scare.
Protesting Yeh’s decision to attend the KMT press conference but not the DPP’s, DPP lawmakers tried to persuade Yeh to go to the DPP caucus office as Yeh was leaving and engaged in a physical clash with their KMT colleagues who were escorting Yeh out.
During the clash, Yeh’s blood pressure increased and he was hospitalized at the National Taiwan University Hospital nearby later in the day.
Walking out of the hospital after paying a visit to Yeh, Hsueh said: “After so many years, the DPP is still a party of violence.”
Hsueh came under fire the moment he walked into the meeting room yesterday as he was five minutes late. He explained that he was held up in traffic, but the explanation only drew more fire from DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) as the Executive Yuan is only a few blocks away from the Legislative Yuan.
“You cannot humiliate the entire party like this — do you think it would be reasonable if I called the KMT a ‘party of murderers’ because the KMT’s Cheng Tai-chi [鄭太吉] is a murderer?” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) asked.
Cheng committed murder in 1994 when he was the Pingtung County Council speaker and was executed in 2000.
“I demand that you apologize to the DPP,” Tsai said.
“Seeing what happened to Yeh, as a Cabinet member I was in great fear at the time and thought that I — or any other government official — may be treated like that as well,” Hsueh said.
Criticism also came from KMT Legislator John Wu (吳志揚), who told Hsueh: “It’s inappropriate for you to make such a comment as a Cabinet official — especially when improving relations with the opposition is an important part of President Ma Ying-jeou’s [馬英九]
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS