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.”
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
RSS