During deliberations on nuclear energy issues at the legislature yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) risked a diplomatic flap when he said Japan had mishandled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster because the Japanese are “stupid.”
Speaking at a legislative committee session, Lin said: “Taiwanese have an appalling affection, they worship everything about Japan.”
“They believe if Japanese cannot do it, then Taiwanese also cannot do it. Their emotions remain in the colonial era,” he added.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“I see that Japanese people are very stupid,” he said.
“It is because they are so stubborn and rigid in their thinking that the Fukushima plant became such a big disaster,” he added.
“The Fukushima disaster could have been prevented in other countries around the world. All you needed to do was pour water on it and that would have solved the problem,” Lin said.
His remarks came during a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which had officials tabling reports made by other countries and international organizations, discussing Taiwan’s operation of nuclear plants and disaster response measures in the event of an accident.
Following the controversial comments, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) denounced Lin.
“Japan is one of Taiwan’s allies, yet a ruling party legislator uses such deliberate insults to disparage the people of another nation. I feel bad about this,” Chiu said.
“Lin Yu-fang is a veteran lawmaker with long experience in foreign affairs. How can he malign the people of a neighboring country?” Chiu added.
Chiu asked Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂): “If the same thing were to happen in Japan, like a Japanese Diet member saying Taiwanese are very stupid and are despicable people, how would you react to it? Would it not affect the Taiwan-Japan relationship?”
Lin said that Taiwan and Japan have a close relationship, and that the government would continue to enhance bilateral cooperation in many fields.
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
‘DIRE’: Taiwan would not engage in ‘dollar diplomacy,’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, after China reportedly offered Honduras up to US$3 billion to establish relations The government yesterday recalled its ambassador to Honduras after the Central American nation sent its foreign minister to China, signaling that it would sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Suspicions concerning ties with Honduras are rife after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday last week wrote on Twitter that her country would pursue diplomatic ties with China. Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled to China on Wednesday “to promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations” on instructions from Castro, Reuters yesterday quoted Honduran presidential spokesman Ivis Alvarado as saying. The government “has decided to immediately recall the ambassador to Honduras
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
MEDIA, SOCIETY FOCUS: Doublethink Lab said that Beijing is trying to coerce countries that rely on China economically to pursue policies in its favor China has stronger influence over Taiwan’s media and society than any other country, the Taipei-based Doublethink Lab think tank said yesterday, as it announced its China Index gauging Beijing’s global influence. Taiwan ranked 11th overall among 82 countries assessed, but first in terms of social and media influence, Doublethink Lab chairman Puma Shen (沈伯洋) told a news conference in Taipei. More than 200 experts and academics participated in the project, including some highly influential figures, Shen said. The index collects information from countries worldwide to gauge China’s influence and assess how Chinese policies affect them, Shen said. In terms of Chinese
RSS