While former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) drew fire from across party lines for his decision to attend a military parade in Beijing, Shi Hsin University professor Wang Hsiao-po (王曉波) yesterday voiced support for the trip.
“I do not think there is anything wrong with Lien’s decision [to attend the event] since he currently holds no government or party positions,” said Wang, who also served as the convener of the Ministry of Education’s controversial curriculum adjustment task force.
“Plus, I think he might intend to convince the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] to work with Taiwan to rewrite history textbooks,” he said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Wang praised Lien for his trip to China in 2005, ending the warring status between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the CCP, saying that he deserves merit for his contributions in cross-strait relations and the Chinese nation.
The contribution that Lien is expected to make during this trip is still unknown, Wang said, adding that he believes Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) might make a major announcement that would make Lien’s trip worthwhile.
Commenting on former premier Hau Pei-tsun’s (郝柏村) remarks that retired military officers should give up their pension if they decide to attend the military parade, Wang said that “whether to receive the pension is a legal issue, it’s not something that Hau could decide.”
He went on to say that Hau opposes the visit because his son, former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), is running for a legislative seat and therefore he is worried about political consequences.
Asked to comment on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) statement yesterday that it’s inappropriate for Lien to attend the event, Wang said: “Ma is not in a position to say anything, whether to attend is Lien’s decision to make.”
Attendance by Taiwanese at China’s military parade to commemorate its victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan would only have an impact on the Taiwan independence movement, and would not have an impact on Taiwan itself, Wang said, adding that it would actually scare people off who have territorial and sovereignty ambitions for Taiwan.
Separately yesterday, in response to media queries for comments on the Lien matter, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said that public perception on Lien’s visit needed no further explanation from him, “Everyone knows.”
Lee said Lien, also a successful businessperson, often visited China and no one minded, however, attending a military parade was “something else altogether.”
On Hau Pei-tsun’s insistence that other retired generals refrain from attending the parade, Lee said Taiwanese youths serving in the nation’s military would not know what to think if retired generals attend the parade in China.
“These youths would definitely feel awkward when they see the people who are supposed to lead them [against a Chinese invasion] visit China and instead shake hands with the aggressors,” Lee said.
Additional reporting by Huang Pei-chun
TENSE SITUATION: If the storm does not bring rain, Taiwan might have to wait until next month amid water scarcity in the center and south, an expert said Typhoon Surigae is to bring rain to the nation’s east coast and mountainous areas in central and southern Taiwan from Wednesday to Friday, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 1,170km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The radius of the storm was 280km, and it was moving northwest at 9kph, with a maximum wind speed of 198kph. The bureau forecasts that the storm would switch to a northerly direction when approaching the east coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines on Wednesday, CWB forecaster Lin Ding-yi (林定宜) said, adding that Surigae would
SEEKING CLARITY: Some members of the US delegation asked KMT legislators in a meeting to address their party’s position on the so-called ‘1992 consensus,’ sources said A US delegation tasked by US President Joe Biden to reaffirm the country’s commitment to its partnership with Taiwan yesterday wrapped up a three-day visit to Taipei. Former US senator Chris Dodd, former US deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, and US Department of State Office of Taiwan Coordination Director Dan Biers departed at 11:20am on a private jet. The members of the delegation, all friends of Biden, arrived on Wednesday and met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and other government officials. During the three-day visit, the delegation also met with six members of the Legislative
Taipei’s street names should reflect a “Taiwanese spirit,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said in an online video released yesterday, in which he asked why many of them are named after locations in China. In a three-minute video uploaded to a Facebook page called “Taiwanese Uncle Ko Wen-je” (台灣阿北柯文哲), the mayor suggested changing the names of Taipei streets. The page’s banner was a photograph of Ko on Jade Mountain’s (玉山) main peak. The page was closed at about noon, about four hours after it was made public. Ko said that street names in the capital named “Ningxia,” “Tibet,” “Beiping” — an old name for
‘AN EXCUSE’: The intent of Beijing’s incursions was ‘intimidation and coercion,’ a senior US official said, adding that China was using the US to justify its actions Chinese carrier drills and stepped-up incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in the past few weeks are meant to send a message to Washington to stand down and back off, security sources in Taipei said. The increased activity — which China, unusually, described as “combat drills” on Wednesday — has raised alarm in both Taipei and Washington, although security officials do not see it as a sign of an imminent attack. Rather, at least some of the exercises are practicing “access denial” maneuvers to prevent foreign forces from coming to Taipei’s defense in a war, one official familiar with Taiwan’s security