Outraged Taiwanese yesterday took to the Internet to slam sexist comments by a Chinese analyst saying that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) practices “emotional” politics because she is a single woman.
The scathing attack on Tuesday from a member of China’s organization overseeing relations with Taiwan came amid heightened tensions between Taipei and Beijing after the election of the nation’s first female president.
Tsai’s office and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) declined to comment on the remarks, but enraged politicians and Taiwanese openly voiced their displeasure.
“It is such a ridiculous remark and discrimination against single people,” DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-chin (葉宜津) said.
“Everyone has the right to choose their lifestyle by having partners or staying single and that should be respected,” Yeh said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) was equally incensed over the comments.
“Such a personal attack is extremely improper,” Wang said.
“It is gender discrimination and we strongly oppose such remarks,” Wang said.
The remarks from Wang Weixing (王衛星), a military analyst and a board member of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, said that Tsai’s politics were affected by her status as a “single female politician.”
“In political style and strategy, often she tends to be emotional, personal and extreme,” Wang Weixing wrote.
“In terms of political tricks, she considers strategy less, tactical details more and short-term goals are paramount, while long-term goals are less taken into account,” he wrote.
Internet users in Taiwan joined lawmakers in slamming Wang Weixing’s comments.
“Why does he not criticize a bunch of married male politicians who are having extramarital affairs?” one post on the Facebook page of the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) said.
“[He is] a chauvinist pig who hurts gender equality,” the post said.
“It is a crime to be single?” one message on the Chinese-language Apple Daily’s Web site said.
“Such a remark only shows the world how perverted China is,” it said.
Another post on the Apple Daily’s site said: “China is so barbaric.”
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS