Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) political opponents criticized her news conference after a three-day break from her election campaign as being empty and meaningless, and for blaming others.
“Although Hung said that she has reflected on what she might have done wrong, we feel she had more thoughts on others’ wrongdoings than her own,” Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Wang Ming-sheng (王閔生) said yesterday. “She did not reflect on the failures of the governing party, and the sufferings that such failures have brought.”
“Apparently, there is a huge difference between the understanding and expectations of society,” he added.
Wang said that although he could not understand what exactly Hung wanted to say, he still respects her.
DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who has enjoyed a comfortable lead in public opinion polls so far, said she respects Hung’s thoughts and election campaign strategy.
She also said that her own campaign would follow its set pace.
People First Party presidential candidate James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) office said it “detects no substantive changes” after Hung’s break.
The KMT is the ruling party, and if its failures can be redressed now, those changes should be carried out immediately, the office said.
New Power Party legislative candidate Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said Hung’s three-day break was a waste of time.
“Hung has been a lawmaker for more than 20 years, and has served as deputy speaker,” Huang said. “Yet she only realized something that everybody already knows: Taiwan has descended into chaos and is a mess because of politicians such as her.”
Huang said that if Hung truly wants Taiwan to be a better place, “she should have realized that Taiwan would be better off without politicians like her.”
Social Democratic Party legislative candidate Fan Yun (范雲) also slammed Hung’s “thoughts after pondering” as empty and meaningless, adding that she is disappointed by what Hung said during the news conference.
“Governing a nation is not a composition contest. Hung should seek to realize social justice,” Fan said. “For example, she should respond to her much-criticized policy proposals, such as abolishing the capital gains tax and expanding legal overtime hours.”
Additional reporting by CNA
‘HONORED’: The DPP’s Lin Fei-fan said friends working in the foreign media, the diplomatic corps and at think tanks congratulated him for making the sanctions list The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday slammed China for sanctioning Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and six other Taiwanese officials for being “diehard separatists,” saying its attempt to intimidate Taiwanese would backfire. China has no authority to dictate the actions of Taiwanese, because Taiwan is a democratic nation that upholds the rule of law, and would never yield to intimidation and threats from an authoritarian regime, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news conference in Taipei. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency earlier yesterday reported that the Taiwan Work Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee has imposed
THAI ASSISTANCE: The representative office in Thailand worked with local authorities to help trafficking victims return home, while one in the group has been charged Eight Taiwanese who were lured to Cambodia with lucrative job offers only to be forced to work illegally were brought home on Sunday night in a joint effort between Taiwanese and Thai authorities, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said. Nine people — six men and three women aged 23 to 42 — boarded China Airlines Flight CI-836 from Bangkok, with assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 9:55pm and were taken to the Aviation Police Bureau for questioning before entering home isolation in accordance with Taiwan’s COVID-19 regulations. The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday
ORDNANCE: Under a five-year plan, the Chungshan Institute would make about 200 Hsiung Feng II and III/IIIE, and Hsiung Sheng missiles, an official said The Ministry of National Defense plans to counter the Chinese navy by producing more than 1,000 anti-ship missiles over the next five years, a defense official familiar with the matter said yesterday. The comments came after China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy began a series of military drills in a simulated naval blockade of Taiwan proper following a visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Although China has in the past few years rapidly produced many warships and added them to its navy, these large vessels are more suited for warfare on the open sea than in the narrow
The organizers of WorldPride 2025 have canceled the Kaohsiung event because its licensing group, InterPride, demanded that it remove “Taiwan” from the event’s name, they said in a statement yesterday. Kaohsiung was to host WorldPride Taiwan 2025 after being granted the right by the global LGBTQ advocacy group. However, the WorldPride 2025 Taiwan Preparation Committee said that InterPride recently gave “abrupt notice” asking it to change the name of the event and use “Kaohsiung” instead of “Taiwan,” even though it applied for the event using “Taiwan” in its name. The name was initially chosen for its significance to the Taiwanese LGBTQ community, as
RSS