"The Disoriented Voyage of the Century" would be a name more apropos for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) new book about his first 500 days in office, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) said yesterday.
People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) also critiqued Chen's new book yesterday, comparing it to the serialized soap operas that often run in Chinese-language newspapers.
The Premier Voyage of the Century (世紀首航) is scheduled to hit bookstore shelves some time this week.
But the Presidential Office has been releasing chapters of the book since Saturday, in an effort to maximize media exposure for Chen's memoirs.
"A single chapter is released to newspapers every day. Is this a soap opera?" Soong said.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Taitung yesterday, Lien said that through the book, Chen had again demonstrated his "buck-passing expertise."
Lien said that almost everybody mentioned in the book -- including Lien himself -- gets blamed for Chen's failures.
"The presidents of other countries usually write memoirs after they have stepped down to review their achievements and mistakes and make a record for history," Lien said.
"Our president -- one and half years after his inauguration -- has written this book, which I feel describes a disoriented voyage."
Lien also took offense at the Presidential Office's tactic of releasing the book piecemeal. "He releases one chapter a day, hurting one person a day," Lien said.
The first chapter to be released criticized the KMT government for failing to hand over important national security documents during last year's transition of power.
In the chapter, Chen said former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) "had forgotten to tell him something" in preparing for his succession, and that "not a single document was left at the National Security Council after the transfer of power."
In a subsequent chapter, Chen suggests that Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) had overstepped her bounds as vice president and should better adapt to her role to improve her popularity. He writes that the position of vice president does not mean "sharing the president's power."
In another chapter, Chen says the Cabinet's attempt to postpone the 84-hour-per-fortnight workweek measure last year failed because Lien had ordered KMT lawmakers to stick to the plan. Chen writes that he was "checkmated" by Lien, as it was the KMT chairman who had proposed postponing the measure to limit the policy's impact on the industrial sector.
Lien denied yesterday that he had blocked the effort to postpone the measure. "We feel regret to hear the head of state say something as irresponsible as this during the elections," he said.
Lien said the effort to postpone the implementation of the policy failed because the DPP insisted on delaying the measure for one and a half years "for election considerations."
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS