Internet fitness celebrity Holger Chen (陳之漢) and New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) plan to hold a rally titled “Get lost ‘red’ media” in Taipei on Sunday next week.
While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is bullying its people, some of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) city and county councilors attended the Straits Forum in China’s Xiamen and even said that they hoped to “search for their roots” on the trip, Chen said in a livestream on Wednesday.
He condemned the KMT for adopting a pro-China stance when the CCP has committed human rights atrocities.
Screen grab from Holger Chen’s Facebook page
As long as the Chinese-language China Times remains open, he would ask Huang and other lawmakers to hold marches calling for “red” media to leave Taiwan, the gym owner-turned-celebrity said.
“Today’s Hong Kong could be tomorrow’s Taiwan. Look at Hong Kong. Has the China Times printed a word about it?” Chen said, adding that he is “super upset at being poisoned by these kinds of news outlets.”
He also questioned whether news outlets backed by Chinese funding should be allowed to operate in the nation.
Huang responded to Chen’s proposal on Facebook.
“No problem, Holger. Let us do this. I have already drafted a bill that will be passed if it garners enough public support,” Huang wrote.
Huang said that he had already obtained permission to hold a rally on Ketagalan Boulevard on Sunday next week, at which he would promote “rejecting ‘red’ media penetration to safeguard Taiwan’s democracy” and “opposing the CCP’s authoritarian rule.”
The NPP caucus has tendered draft amendments to the National Security Act (國家安全法), the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) and a draft act against infiltration by hostile forces, all of which have proceeded to committee reviews.
Chen on Friday said that he invited Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to take part in the rally, but Ko had prior engagements.
However, Ko is expected to voice his support for their appeals during a livestream tonight, Chen added.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘), a KMT presidential candidate, yesterday said that he would have to forgo the rally because of changes in his schedule.
However, he expressed support for the event, saying that the media should not try to manipulate democratic institutions.
Gou accused a certain “Chinese spy media outlet,” of going to great lengths to influence next year’s presidential election.
Gou has in the past few days accused the China Times of constantly placing him in a bad light in its reports.
The China Times is owned by Want Want China Times Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明).
Tsai supports Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who is also vying for the KMT’s nomination.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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