Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators marched to the Control Yuan yesterday to accuse the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) of spreading “racist” propaganda in its recent efforts to promote an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
Led by caucus convener Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) and secretary-general Wang Sing-nan (王幸男), the group, which included DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦), also called on the Control Yuan to expedite the vote-buying case against former Chinese Nationalist Party legislator Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井).
The case has already passed its six-month review period, the DPP said.
The MOEA last Monday unveiled a comic strip explaining the ECFA to gain public support for the trade pact.
The cartoon drew heavy criticism from the DPP, which accused the ministry of discrimination.
The comic strip featured two characters — Yi-ge, an ethnic Taiwanese, male vocational school graduate from Tainan who speaks poor Mandarin, and his female counterpart, Fa-sao, a Hakka from Hsinchu with a high-ranking job at an import/export company.
While Yi-ge is portrayed as an unmotivated individual who is clueless about the ECFA yet opposed to it, Fa-sao is well-informed and ambitious and supports the trade deal.
“The cartoon obviously looks down on those from Tainan. This is blatant racial and gender discrimination,” Chai said, adding that MOEA Minister Yiin Chii-ming’s (尹啟銘) apology was not enough and the ministry should stop distribution of the leaflet.
Cheng said the MOEA was arrogant and prejudiced and that it was unfathomable that the government would promote its policy at the expense of smearing ethnic Taiwanese.
Control Yuan review committee member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) said he had not seen the comic strip, but if the material was as inflammatory as described by the pan-green camp, “then there would be room for review.”
Regarding the case against Liao, Huang said he would look into the matter and ask the agencies involved to explain the delay.
Liao was found guilty of vote-buying at his first trial in October. The court annulled his election to the legislature. The Taiwan High Court took over the case in December.
Cheng said according to the Public Official Election and Recall Law (公職人員選舉罷免法), a verdict must be reached within six months.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS