Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday accused the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of applying double standards in its criticism of eight pan-blue local government heads’ recent visit to Beijing, saying the trip was made to promote public livelihoods.
At a meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee in Taipei yesterday afternoon, Hung said both sides of the Taiwan Strait had positive exchanges under the KMT administration’s eight-year rule thanks to the party’s handling of cross-strait ties, which brought significant tourism growth.
However, “since the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] administration took office, its disregard of cross-strait policies has led to suspended communications across the Strait and a sharp drop in the number of Chinese visiting Taiwan, which have gravely affected all sectors of Taiwanese society,” Hung said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The DPP government appears to be indifferent and has turned a blind eye to the impact on local industries, she added.
The trip to China by a delegation of eight KMT and independent local government heads earlier this week was aimed at helping public livelihoods, but was interpreted as a move that could further divide the nation, she said.
“I do not understand the logic and rationale behind such allegations. Many pan-green local government heads had also visited Beijing in the past. How come their trips are not seen as seeking to divide Taiwan, while ours are?” Hung said.
Cross-strait ties play a significant role in government policy, which is why the eight local government leaders made the trip, she said, lauding the eight for their proactive spirit and endeavors to help solve the nation’s problems.
Hung urged Tsai to honor a pledge she made during her inauguration in May to build a better country for the younger generation.
“This country is the Republic of China [ROC,] so please act in accordance with the ROC Constitution instead of doing something unspeakable under its flag,” she said.
Hung said Tsai’s insistence on steering the nation toward independence and eliminating legally founded political parties or industries that might put her at a disadvantage would eventually backfire.
At a news conference at KMT headquarters earlier yesterday, KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hu Wen-chi (胡文琦) said the Tsai administration should not pin pro-China labels on the eight local government heads who only wanted to help the nation’s economy.
Hu added that the KMT welcomed any policies tabled by the Tsai administration that is better than the so-called “1992 consensus” in terms of solving problems.
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted that he made up in 2000 — refers to a supposed understanding reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that both Taiwan and China acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater