New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) on Thursday said in an interview that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is “more dangerous” than President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and could “be ruthless” because she is “single, without family burdens.”
In an interview with the China Review News, when he was asked to comment on remarks that Tsai is a 2.0 version of Ma or another Chen, Yok said he has long before said that Tsai is a “female version of Ma,” as they “lack ideas, but think highly of themselves and do not take advice.”
“However, she would be worse than Ma, for Ma has done a lot that he should have done to sustain a peaceful foundation. Unless she renounces the Taiwan independence clause [in the DPP’s party charter], she would not have the support from the pan-blue camp or the approval of the Chinese Communist Party if she continues her equivocation. However, if she does, she would be harshly criticized by the people who support Taiwanese independence,” Yok said.
“What is different between Tsai and Chen is that she is single. Single people do things more ruthlessly because they have less to care about compared with those who have children. She is more dangerous than Chen. One day she might go amok; she might ally with the US and Japan and start a war against China,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator-at-large candidate Hu Chu-sheng (胡筑生), who is head of the party’s Huang Fu Hsing (黃復興) military veterans’ branch, on Wednesday night said on a political talk show of the nation’s military system that: “If everyone were Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) in the army, Taiwan would have become a female country (女人國) long before.”
Hung died from abuse when serving in the military in 2013. His death sparked a mass demonstration calling for military reform. Hung’s sister, Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸), now a New Power Party legislative candidate, accepted calls to enter politics after attracting public attention for her fight against the Ministry of National Defense following Hung Chung-chiu’s death.
Hung Tsu-yung yesterday said on Facebook that the military would continue to abuse people as long as its actions do not come to light.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans