Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday accused President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of “belittling the official title” of the nation by describing herself as the “President of Taiwan” during her first overseas state visit.
“The Republic of China, abbreviated as ROC, is the title of our nation. It is the official national title under which we have repeatedly endeavored to seek global recognition,” the fomer Taipei mayor wrote on Facebook.
Hau posted a photograph of the message Tsai left in a visitor’s book after touring the sluice gates of the expanded Panama Canal on Sunday, in which she wrote: “Witnessing the centennial achievement, jointly creating future prosperity,” and identifying herself as “President of Taiwan [ROC].”
Tsai is on a nine-day trip to Panama and Paraguay that includes two transit stops in the US. She stopped in Miami, Florida, on Saturday on her way to Panama and she is to stop in Los Angeles on her return home.
Hau said that before the Jan. 16 presidential elections, Tsai had said on multiple occasions that she was running for “president of the ROC.”
“However, when Tsai, who is president of the ROC, travels overseas to one of the nation’s diplomatic allies, the ROC becomes merely a side note in parentheses,” Hau wrote.
It is ironic that at a time when just over 20 nations recognize the ROC, “our own president belittles the nation’s official title while standing on the soil of one of the nation’s diplomatic allies,” Hau said.
“We all identify with the island of Taiwan and recognize ourselves as Taiwanese, but that does not mean we should forsake or belittle our national title. Besides, for our president to take the lead in doing so overseas is something I cannot accept,” Hau said.
KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), a great-grandson of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), on Sunday also took issue with Tsai’s message in the visitors’ book, criticizing it as “extremely inappropriate.”
He told TVBS that such a message could spark an outpouring of controversy and that it would be more appropriate for Tsai to use her “official title” when writing an inscription for someone or leaving similar messages.
However, the KMT lawmaker’s remarks drew a sharp retort on Facebook from New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), who late on Sunday vented his discontent, posting: “Is it really that humiliating and difficult for the descendants of the Chiang family to utter the word Taiwan?”
Accusing the KMT of acting schizophrenically, Hsu said that the KMT had lambasted Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Tzou-yien (林奏延) for not mentioning “Taiwan” in his speech at the World Health Assembly last month, yet the party has problems with Tsai describing herself as “president of Taiwan.”
“If Chiang Wan-an thinks it is extremely inappropriate for Tsai to describe herself as ‘president of Taiwan,’ does it mean the only befitting title for the president is ‘leader of the ROC, Taiwan area’ because it conforms to the ‘one China’ principle?” Hsu wrote.
He said that the KMT and its members should refrain from unreasonable invectives.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
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
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS