Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday he had declined an invitation to attend President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration ceremony on Sunday as “a form of silent protest” about Ma’s policies.
Speaking at a press conference in Greater Tainan, the 89-year-old said he was aware that a series of massive protests would coincide with the ceremony and added that people have the right to voice their opinion.
However, as a former president, he said he would rather offer his experience to Ma than resort to “extreme ways” to embarrass the incumbent president.
Photo: Peng Hsien-chun, Taipei Times
Lee also clarified his relations with the Taiwan Solidarity Union, the party he helped found in 2001. Lee said that at present he has no direct connection with the party, even though the party views him as its “spiritual leader.”
Lee, often dubbed “Taiwan’s Mr Democracy,” was on the second day of his three-day visit to southern Taiwan, the second such trip following his recovery from cancer surgery. He visited Greater Kaohsiung and Pingtung County last month.
In a stop at the Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫) in Greater Tainan, Lee praised late Japanese engineer Yoichi Hatta as the best example of the “Japanese spirit.”
Lee paid tribute to Hatta (1886-1942), laying flowers at his statue, which is located on a hill that overlooks the reservoir.
Hatta was the designer of Chia-nan Irrigation Waterways and the Wushantou Reservoir, which were built between 1920 and 1930 during the Japanese colonial period. His work improved rice harvests in today’s Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan areas, allowing rice to be harvested three times a year.
While his design was questioned and the funding was at one point suspended, Hatta’s determination to complete the project never wavered, Lee said, adding that the engineer showed compassion to Taiwanese throughout his stay in the nation.
“History proved that Hatta was right,” Lee said.
That is why people in the south have always shown the utmost respect to Hatta and his wife, who were both buried in Taiwan, he said.
“I have never seen any politician in Taiwan — or Japan — who has the same determination, perseverance and compassion as Hatta,” said Lee, who choked several times and almost burst into tears as he recalled Hatta’s contributions and humanity.
Lee later met with Chiayi Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the first time he has been received by a KMT official during his two recent trips to the south.
Lee reiterated his call to privatize state-run companies and to release state-owned land to stimulate local economies.
Citing the example of Japan’s national railway company, Lee said it had serious management problems after World War II and was not profitable until it was privatized and split into six separate companies.
Lee is scheduled to return to Taipei today.
He is set to embark on another trip to southern Taiwan at the end of this month, to visit Yunlin County.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS