The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said it is “unbearable to see” a party with a 100-year-long history having to stoop to citing a “strange article” with a view that “curiously deviates from the US official and academic mainstream’s stance” in order to attack the DPP.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus held a news conference yesterday calling DPP Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) “violent Ing” and claiming that the US has given her a slap in her face, citing an article in The Diplomat magazine by Dennis Hickey, a professor of political science and director of the graduate program in global studies at Missouri State University, that questioned Tsai’s pro-independence stance and her “subsidizing [of the] extremists” who attacked government agencies.
“Hickey said in his article that the DPP has been employing ‘a Middle Eastern practice’ of gathering people to cause skirmishes, known as a ‘rent-a-mob,’ and ‘subsidizing extremists who attack government ministries,’ making it ‘increasingly difficult for Americans to sensibly argue that Taiwan is a model of democracy,’” KMT deputy caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福) said.
The KMT said that Hickey’s article shows that “the US recognizes the fact Tsai had deeply intervened and financially supported the Sunflower movement and the anti-curriculum movement.”
“The occupation of government agencies is a typical Middle Eastern terrorist group’s practice; the US is really worried that Taiwan could get ‘ISIS-ized,’” Lin said, referring to the Islamic State group, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and claiming the US is also concerned that Tsai’s presidency would bring Taiwan toward de jure independence and drag the US into a war.
KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said the article indicates that Tsai’s US visit earlier this year was a failure, despite the DPP saying it was a success.
“It is a serious problem” that the US, at this point, is making this kind of comment about Tsai, questioning Taiwan’s democracy and suspecting that there might be a war if Tsai gets elected, Hung said.
The DPP said that the article “is biased on a viewpoint that is extremely different to that of US officials and mainstream academics.”
“It is an article believed to have no reference value, but the KMT is desperately clinging to it, taking it as a ‘driftwood on the angry sea,’” DPP spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said, adding that Tsai’s US tour met with positive responses from the US.
The article’s likening of Taiwan’s recent democratic movements to “violent Middle Eastern mobs” is “not only rude, but also inappropriate,” Cheng said, adding that Susan Stevenson, deputy assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy at the US Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, when visiting Taiwan during the 318 movement, said that the US acknowledges that Taiwan is a vivacious democracy where everyone has a right to the freedom of speech.
“The KMT [is using the article as an attempt to] defame its own countrymen and say that social movements equate to Taiwan being ‘ISIS-ized.’ It is just sad to witness a 100-year-old party’s [degeneration],” Cheng said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
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
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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