Taiwanese beverage chains being forced to declare their stance on China’s “one country, two systems” framework is an example of politics suppressing economic activities, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
Ko made the remark in response to media queries about the companies that have seemingly been forced to take a stance on the Hong Kong protests.
Yifang Taiwan Fruit Tea on Aug. 5 on Chinese social media platforms WeChat and Sina Weibo condemned Hong Kong protesters and voiced support for the “one country, two systems” model.
Photo: Wang Chun-chung, Taipei Times
The posts angered many Taiwanese and some Internet users called for a boycott of the beverage chain.
They have also called for a boycott of several other Taiwanese beverage chains with branches in China that have used the title “Taiwan, China” as their country of origin in their social media profiles or expressed support for “one country, two systems.”
“This is an example of politics suppressing economics,” Ko said. “In a civilized nation, people have the freedom to express their position, but more importantly, people should also have the freedom not to express their stance.”
Companies being coerced to express their stance is not something that could happen in a civilized nation, he said.
“I am impressed with China’s rapid economic development, but the large gap between its political and economic development cannot always remain like this, because it will cause problems sooner or later.” Ko said. “Taiwan’s democratic development in the past 30 years can serve as an inspiration for the mainland.”
Reporters also asked Ko about the possibility of cooperating with Hon Hai Precision Industry founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) in the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 11 next year.
The three should meet for a face-to-face chat, Ko said, adding that he believes they should discuss issues based on the shared goal of benefiting Taiwan’s general interest and the people’s well-being.
His frequent visits to cities and counties outside of Taipei on the weekends are mainly aimed at broadening his horizon, making friends and learning, which provide inspiration for him in implementing policies in Taipei, Ko said.
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
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
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