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.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
RSS