Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday panned Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) for comparing cross-strait relations with France and Syria.
Tsai was all smiles onstage at a rally in Yilan as she campaigned for DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀), who is running for re-election.
Off the stage, Tsai turned serious when asked by journalists to comment on Lu’s comparison of cross-strait relations to the unrest in Syria and terror attacks in Paris on Friday night.
Photo: CNA
“In the past, I have always held a neutral view about Lu, but what she said this time was really inappropriate. It is very inappropriate to use a regrettable tragedy abroad as part of an election campaign. It also shows that the KMT lacks the virtue of a political party in a democratic society,” Tsai said, referring to a speech that Lu delivered on Friday at a rally to mark the inauguration of KMT legislative candidate Shen Chih-hwei’s (沈智慧) campaign headquarters in Taichung.
Lu asked supporters to “look at France, and look at Syria” and then think whether they wanted peace across the Taiwan Strait.
“If you want peace across the Taiwan Strait, then you must vote for the KMT and vote for KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫),” Lu said.
In response to questions, Tsai also said that she has also been disappointed by Chu’s actions during his visit in the US, including his criticism at the Brookings Institution in Washington of Tsai’s cross-strait policy platform, which he said was empty and unrealistic.
“I thought that Chu was visiting the US to strengthen bilateral relations between Taiwan and the US, but now it is more like he is extending his campaign to the US,” she said.
Tsai said she had expected Chu to deliver a message about the nation’s values and the shared interests of all Taiwanese to gain more support from the US for Taiwan.
However, he only took bipartisan politics and his own party’s viewpoints to the US, which was regrettable, she said.
As for Chu’s comments that the so-called “1992 consensus” is the basis for cross-strait exchanges, and that stable development of cross-strait relations might be endangered without it, Tsai said that Chu should stop “playing the threat card.”
The 1992 consensus refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means. Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted in 2006 that he had made up the term in 2000.
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
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
RSS