Exiled Chinese democracy activist Wang Dan (王丹) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Culture and Communication Committee deputy director Hu Wen-chi (胡文琦) yesterday engaged in a war of words after Hu chided Wang for saying “there will not be Taiwanese independence without bloodshed.”
Wang, a student leader in the pro-democracy protests in Beijing in the spring of 1989, in a Facebook post marking the 28th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre on Saturday called on Taiwanese independence advocates to stop advocating independence if they are not prepared to shed blood, otherwise their words would only amount to “verbal masturbation.”
Hu yesterday commended Wang for “speaking the truth,” but criticized him for the timing of the remark, as Wang, who has spent eight years in Taiwan, is scheduled to leave for the US next month.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Wang has “milked” his “charmed life” in Taiwan “for all it was worth” and only spoke the truth before “abandoning” Taiwan, Hu said.
Wang said on Facebook that the KMT had deliberately misinterpreted his words.
The “bloodshed” remark was meant to encourage younger generations to fight for independence, but also act as a reminder that they should be prepared to pay a price, Wang said.
He dismissed Hu’s remarks about him living a high life in Taiwan only to abandon it.
Wang compared Hu’s words to propaganda by China’s Internet trolls, calling them “vulgar.”
He urged the KMT to “mind its own business,” saying that countless Republic of China soldiers were killed by the Chinese Communist Party during the Chinese Civil War, but instead of avenging them, the KMT has played second fiddle to Beijing.
The KMT lost its reign over China and repeated its mistake after it retreated to Taiwan, he said.
“If I were the KMT, I would have dug a hole in the ground and jumped in. How come you still have the audacity to accuse others?” Wang said. “Spokesman Hu, how shameless you are.”
Hu yesterday said he is not ashamed of “stating the facts.”
Citing a list pan-green camp politicians that have also criticized Wang’s “bloodshed” remark, he said the antipathy toward the remark had crossed party lines.
The best “revenge” the KMT can have is to promote the teachings of the democracy pioneers who died during the war and pass on Taiwan’s democratic values to all Chinese, Hu said.
Wang’s remark that the KMT should take revenge on China shows that he is not well-versed in democracy and that his thoughts have progressed little since 1989, Hu said.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS