Jailed former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday lashed out at Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) over his allegations that former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were “accomplices” in Chen’s “corrupt administration.”
Chen said in the pro--democracy online magazine Neo Formosa Weekly that while President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) enjoyed talking about fighting corruption, the party that he heads, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), was the most corrupt political establishment in history.
Corruption was the reason dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) lost the Chinese Civil War and fled to Taiwan, Chen said. Corruption was also attributed to the KMT’s defeat by the DPP in the 2000 presidential election, he said.
Questioning Ma’s connection with Taipei’s problem-plagued Wenshan-Neihu MRT line, Chen said Ma was an accomplice to Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) administration. Had the same thing happened to him when he was Taipei mayor, Chen said he would have been investigated — but Ma has remained above the law.
Ma is also a willing participant in a campaign to “annihilate” the Republic of China (ROC), Chen said. While the DPP has no great love for the national flag of the ROC, his administration insisted that the flag be flown if China wanted Taiwan to participate in the Olympic torch relay prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he said.
However, under Ma’s presidency, ROC flags were nowhere to be seen when Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) visited Taiwan in November 2008 and students recently were told not to wave the national flag when cheering for local basketball teams, Chen said.
“The administration’s talk about protecting the ROC is nothing but an election gimmick aimed at swindling voters,” he said.
It would also be appropriate to say that Ma was also an accomplice to dictators such as Chiang, his son Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Chen said.
Ma’s reluctance to address the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre and to approve the visit of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama were evidence of this, Chen said. Ma’s administration has also blacklisted World Uyghur Congress leader Rebiya Kadeer and failed to call for the release of Chinese rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) until other world leaders made such calls, Chen said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
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