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.
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
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS