The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday criticized President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) for referring to herself as the “President of Taiwan (ROC)” in a letter to congratulate Yilan and Rockville, Maryland, on becoming sister cities, and urged her to back out of next year’s presidential election.
“President Tsai has committed a malfeasant act that shows she is no longer fit for her job,” KMT caucus whip William Tseng (曾銘宗) told a news conference in Taipei.
“Tsai is gradually moving toward her goal of changing the nation’s title from the Republic of China (ROC) to Taiwan, and is planning to scrap the ROC,” he said. “The KMT caucus condemns her in the strongest terms. We urge her to apologize to the public and pull out of next year’s presidential election, for she is no longer qualified to run.”
Photo: Chen Yun, Taipei Times
The Presidential Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should publicly account for the incident, which the caucus would ask the Control Yuan to investigate, he said.
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said that Tsai was pandering to “deep-green” voters.
Tsai has made a “second offense,” as her title in the letter was identical to the one she used when visiting Paraguay in 2016, Lai said.
If Tsai loathes the ROC so much, she should push for a constitutional amendment to officially change the nation’s title instead of resorting to “sneaky” behavior, he said.
When Tsai was inaugurated in 2016, she lied to the international community by saying that the nation would not change the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait and would not be a “troublemaker,” but what she really wants is to found the “Republic of Taiwan,” he said.
By projecting the image of a Republic of Taiwan at every opportunity, Tsai is changing the “status quo,” he said.
The caucus would file a motion during the next legislative session to ask Tsai to deliver a report to the Legislative Yuan to clarify whether she is president of the ROC or Taiwan, he said.
KMT Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) said that Tsai’s action might have constituted treason, calling on concerned agencies to look into the matter.
The Presidential Office said that the letter was not a formal document.
Citing Tsai, the office said that it is not disproportionate for a president of 23 million people to call herself the president of Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) urged the KMT to stop marching to the beat of the Chinese Communist Party’s drum.
“How is referring to herself as the president of Taiwan degrading the nation’s sovereignty? Tsai is the only president of Taiwan that can steadfastly protect Taiwan,” he said.
“The KMT should not always pick the opposing side to Taiwan,” he said, adding that its action “would not win any hearts.”
Tsai’s diplomatic policies have won high acclaim from the public, as well as Tokyo and Washington, and she would certainly not back out of the election, he added.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun and Chen Yu-fu
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