Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said she suspected the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could be behind an online rumor that her father was a traitor who prospered by helping the Japanese invasion of China and she has urged such negative campaigning to stop.
“The rumors that have been circulating online recently have simply gone too far and we’ve discovered that the KMT has been behind most of those rumors,” Tsai said on the sidelines of a campaign event in New Taipei City yesterday.
“I would like to warn the KMT that, as a political party with more than a century of history, if this is the only campaign strategy they have, it’s not only going to cost them the party’s image, but it will also cause even more damage to Taiwan’s democracy,” she said.
Tsai was referring to an article that has been circulating on the Internet, saying that her father, Tsai Chieh-sheng (蔡潔生), became wealthy as an airplane mechanic in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, by “helping to repair warplanes for the Japanese Imperial Army and helping it to invade China and bomb the Chinese.”
The article also hinted that Tsai Chieh-sheng received money from the Japanese government after its surrender at the end of World War II and that he used the money to purchase the plot of land in Taipei on which he built his prosperous auto repair business.
Asked about China’s announcement that it would inaugurate a visa-free entry permit for residents of Taiwan in the form of an IC card next month, Tsai Ing-wen called on the government to negotiate with China on the matter.
“Normally, the entry document issue should be the result of a bilateral negotiation, but this time China has unilaterally made the announcement, showing that there are political motivations behind the move,” Tsai Ing-wen said.
“I hope the government pays special attention to this, to carefully re-examine the issue and negotiate with China to safeguard Taiwan’s dignity and the effectiveness of our laws,” she said.
Commenting on Deputy Legislative Speaker and KMT presidential hopeful Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) remarks that more adjustments should be made to the Ministry of Education’s controversial high-school curriculum guidelines, Tsai Ing-wen called on Hung to explain herself more clearly.
“Hung’s remarks seem to be diverting away from mainstream public opinion, so she should make herself more clear,” Tsai Ing-wen said.
“Curriculum guidelines should be adjusted along with democratic developments in society, and the procedure to produce revised curriculum guidelines should be transparent and reflect the diversity of ideas in Taiwan,” she said.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
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