Retired lieutenant general Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) was yesterday spotted in the audience as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) cautioned against “separatism” at an event held to mark the 150th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) birth.
Xi praised Sun for the revolution against the Qing Dynasty, say ing that “the separation of Chinese territory will not be tolerated.”
During a live televised broadcast of the ceremony, New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明), Wu and other retired military officers were seen sitting in the audience.
Wu has recently been active in opposing reforms of the pension system proposed by the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and, along with National Civil Servant Association president Harry Lee (李來希) and National Federation of Education Unions vice president Liu Ya-ping (劉亞平), formed a group to fight the proposal.
On Jan. 3, the group led more than 10,000 people in protest on streets outside of key government buildings in Taipei.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) yesterday criticized the former officials’ attendance at the ceremony in Beijing, saying that participation by retired Taiwanese officials at a Chinese government event was an “extraordinarily ridiculous situation.”
Tsai Shih-ying said that Wu, as a former military officer, was responsible for the protection of Taiwan, adding that Wu’s attendance at the event in an “enemy state” raised the question: “Does he have Taiwan in his heart?”
“These men receive monthly pensions of between NT$100,000 and NT$200,000 and enjoy many social benefits in Taiwan, yet they take to the streets and go on TV criticizing the government,” DPP Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) said on Facebook
“Sitting next to Chinese People’s Liberation Army officers and listening to Xi, do you not feel embarrassed?” Wang asked.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) said retired military personnel attended the ceremony not to listen to Xi, but to honor Sun, but added that it would be inappropriate for them to participate in military exchanges.
Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said that Wu is already retired, adding that the ministry had no further comment on the matter.
No comment was available from Wu at press time last night.
BILINGUAL PLAN: The 17 educators were recruited under a program that seeks to empower Taiwanese, the envoy to the Philippines said The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines on Thursday hosted a send-off event for the first group of English-language teachers from the country who were recruited for a Ministry of Education-initiated program to advance bilingual education in Taiwan. The 14 teachers and three teaching assistants are part of the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which aims to help find English-language instructors for Taiwan’s public elementary and junior-high schools, the office said. Seventy-seven teachers and 11 teaching assistants from the Philippines have been hired to teach in Taiwan in the coming school year, office data showed. Among the first group is 57-year-old
Police have detained a Taoyuan couple suspected of over the past two months colluding with human trafficking rings and employment scammers in Southeast Asia to send nearly 100 Taiwanese jobseekers to Cambodia. At a media briefing in Taipei yesterday, the Criminal Investigation Bureau presented items seized from the couple, including alleged victims’ passports, forged COVID-19 vaccination records, mobile phones, bank documents, checks and cash. The man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and his girlfriend, surnamed Tsan (詹), were taken into custody last month, after police at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport stopped four jobseekers from boarding a flight to Phnom Penh, said Dustin Lee (李泱輯),
‘ORDINARY PEOPLE’: A man watching Taiwanese military drills said that there would be nothing anyone could do if the situation escalates in the Taiwan Strait Many people in Taiwan look upon China’s military exercises over the past week with calm resignation, doubting that war is imminent and if anything, feeling pride in their nation’s determination to defend itself. After a visit to Taiwan last week by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China has sent ships and aircraft across an unofficial buffer between Taiwan and China’s coast and missiles over Taipei and into waters surrounding the nation since Thursday last week. However, Rosa Chang, proudly watching her son take part in Taiwanese military exercises that included dozens of howitzers firing shells into the Taiwan Strait off
TRICKED INTO MOVING: Local governments in China do not offer any help, and Taiwanese there must compete with Chinese in an unfamiliar setting, a researcher said Beijing’s incentives for Taiwanese businesspeople to invest in China are only intended to lure them across the Taiwan Strait, after which they receive no real support, an expert said on Sunday. Over the past few years, Beijing has been offering a number of incentives that “benefit Taiwanese in name, while benefiting China in reality,” a cross-strait affairs expert said on condition of anonymity. Strategies such as the “31 incentives” are intended to lure Taiwanese talent, capital and technology to help address China’s economic issues while also furthering its “united front” efforts, they said. Local governments in China do not offer much practical
RSS