An article by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) in the latest issue of a Japanese magazine slammed President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) actions commemorating the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) as a contradiction of historical fact.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) was quick to condemn Lee and called on the public to denounce him.
The Chinese-language United Daily Evening News said that in the article in the Voice magazine, Lee said the Taiwanese “fought for their motherland as Japanese.”
Seventy years ago, “Taiwan and Japan were one nation. As long as they were the same nation, it is certainly not true [for Ma] to say that Taiwan fought in the resistance war against Japan,” the newspaper quoted Lee as saying.
Ma’s commemoration of the resistance war against Japan was simply an attempt to curry favor with Beijing, Lee said.
“The Taiwanese during that period were undoubtedly Japanese; they fought for their mother country,” Lee said, adding that Ma’s recent actions could be seen as deliberate harassment of Japan, which would nevertheless not change Beijing’s attitude toward Ma.
Beijing is aware that Ma has become the most unpopular president in Taiwan’s history, with an approval rate of 9 percent at one time, Lee added.
According to the newspaper report, Lee also criticized what he said was the the acceleration of the Ma administration’s reliance on China, which he said had been based on the “a counterfeit product” of the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed understanding reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that both Taiwan and China acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that means.
The 1992 meeting did not reach a consensus over “one China, respective interpretations,” Lee said, adding that the “1992 consensus” was a term former Mainland Affairs Council minister Su Chi (蘇起) has acknowledged making up.
Hung released a statement condemning Lee soon after the newspaper report came out yesterday evening, saying that she became “hot under the collar” when she heard the news.
She called on “all of society” to undertake both “oral and written denunciations” against Lee.
“Lee was the president of the Republic of China for 12 years. It is unthinkable that he could have made those humiliating remarks. No wonder he is known as Masao Iwasato [his Japanese name]; he is Japanese,” Hung said.
“No wonder I proposed that the party [KMT] expel Lee, as he is a disloyal and heartless person without any virtue,” Hung said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all