President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said the reason why he demanded the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) change its party emblem is to to break the myth of a one-party state and to carry out the goal of leading Taiwan to become a normal democratic country.
"In the past, the KMT's emblem has mingled with the national emblem in many aspects, which was a result of the KMT acting as it saw fit. Yet it did not mean it was a right thing," Chen said during the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) weekly Central Standing Committee meeting.
"Likewise, I believe that the people of Taiwan wouldn't accept it if the DPP adopted its party emblem as a new national emblem either," Chen said.
Chen also said the former KMT government intentionally used its party emblem when it designed the national emblem so that it could establish a one-party state.
"Those who insist that it is OK to mix the KMT's emblem with the national emblem simply show that they are still haunted with the mindset of favoring a one-party state," Chen said.
"Such a mindset is also the biggest obstacle ... to Taiwan's democratization," he said.
Because the KMT thought the party and the state were one and the same, it had no problem with seizing the nation's assets without giving compensation for the land it acquired. This sort of behavior led the KMT down the road of "black gold" politics, Chen said.
Chen said the KMT seized control of the military, governmental organizations and schools and replaced civic education with party education under the concept of a one-party state, all of which had confused the people of Taiwan about their national identity.
"People cannot help but be angered by what the KMT did to the country during its 50-year rule," he said.
"Fortunately, only a handful of people still indulge in the KMT's kind of obsolete and reactionary thinking," he said. "We would like to declare that the era of one-party rule should come to an end and the DPP will never make the same mistakes the KMT did."
"All political parties are equal before the nation's laws and we will carry out the goal of separating the party from the state, helping Taiwan become a normal and democratic country," he said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
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