DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (
The claims, however, were dismissed by KMT officials who said Chen merely wants to confuse voters while pursuing his party's potentially-destabilizing pro-independence platform.
Chen said he had received information from officials in the US to the effect that the KMT is gearing up to level allegations against him and that they will bring up the issue of cross-strait stability as a way of frightening voters into voting for them.
"The KMT normally uses scare tactics in the final stages of election campaigns to support its candidates. I have information from US government sources that the party plans to use these tactics again," Chen said.
Chen had originally planned to hold a press conference yesterday to publicize a white paper on science and technology, but that in light of what he said were imminent attacks on him by the ruling party, he could not stay silent.
Chiou Yi-jen (
"The US media, Congress and scholars have all revealed fears that president Lee will create an incident to draw the US into Taiwan's presidential election," Chiu said.
Just two days ago, Congressmen visiting Taiwan personally requested Lee not use inflammatory rhetoric against China or say anything to escalate tensions in the Strait in the lead-up to the March election.
Chen said yesterday that he would use his own "peaceful stability" card -- by seeking friendship with China through peaceful negotiations with the PRC government -- against what he called the KMT's "terror stability" card.
At the same time, he stressed that the KMT is attempting to intimidate potential DPP voters by conjuring up fears of a backlash from China if he wins.
But the KMT's Chen Shei-saint (
"The KMT would never fool with the lives of Taiwan's 21 million people. The party wants to maintain a stable national security environment," the KMT's Chen said.
But the problematic thing is the fact that the DPP's advocacy of Taiwan independence is a volatile factor that could provoke China, he said.
He said Chen Shui-bian knows this fact will decrease his support rate and that his accusations are part of a "first strike" being waged against the KMT.
"Chen says he wants to present a `New Middle Way,' but sometimes he still holds up the banner of pro-independence groups and he knows people will question his honesty regarding just how `stable' Taiwan would be under his government," Chen said.
"Besides," said the KMT's Chen, "we have very good relations with US government and have good channels of communication with them. We can prove that what Chen said is not true."
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
RSS