President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should rein in Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members who are spreading racist and gender-biased propaganda in a bid to snatch votes for the year-end local elections and support for a controversial trade pact with China, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
Acting DPP Spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said at a press conference that the KMT’s Chiayi County branch has been running a “questionable, negative advertisement” insinuating that the DPP nominee in the county commissioner’s race, Chang Hwa-kuan (張花冠), was involved in adulterous relations with the current commissioner, Chen Ming-wen (陳明文).
The ad, which appeared in major Chinese-language newspapers on Thursday, compared the DPP’s decision to nominate Chang, a legislator, to a popular soap opera plot line by saying the party resorted to the “second wife” strategy to secure the seat.
Chang, 55, is the widow of late KMT legislator and prominent businessman Tseng Chen-nung (曾振農). At the announcement of Chang’s nomination, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) praised her for making the transition from the wife of a businessman to a politician.
Both Chen and Chang said yesterday they were prepared to sue their pan-blue rivals for defamation.
“It is regrettable that the KMT has stooped so low this early in the race. But this will not stand in my way of winning the seat,” Chang said.
Calling the KMT’s ad part of a smear campaign, Chao yesterday urged Ma, who doubles as KMT chairman, to stop his party members using “low-class” and discriminatory tactics in the battle for the commissionership.
Chao said that during Ma’s presidential campaign, his supporters had also published several profanely worded ads in publications around the country.
During the presidential campaign of 2007, Ma’s supporters in Kaohsiung draped a giant banner on the side of a building bearing a phrase that used Ma’s last name in an allusion to a swear word. A pan-blue underground radio station at that time also started its show with a jingle making use of what sounded like an obscene phrase.
“Now, as the president, he has allowed the Ministry of Economic Affairs to distribute racist propaganda to boost support for the economic cooperation framework agreement [ECFA] that it wants to sign with Beijing. It is difficult not to suspect that these are all mere reflections of Ma’s real sentiments,” he said.
Chao was referring to a comic strip that the ministry had created to promote the ECFA. The cartoon features two stereotypical characters, Yi-ge (一哥), an ethnic Taiwanese vocational school graduate who opposes the ECFA, and Fa-sao (發嫂), a sharp-minded Hakka career woman who supports the deal.
The DPP last month expressed outrage at the cartoon and demanded that the ministry withdraw it.
Although the ministry has insisted there was nothing wrong with the cartoon and refused to remove it from its Web site, the ministry yesterday released a statement that said it had decided to pull the cartoon.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their