Commenting on former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀), former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said that his belief in democracy is at odds with the founding father of Singapore’s “Asian values,” which Lee Teng-hui described as having its roots in the Chinese dynastic system.
According to Lee Teng-hui, Lee Kuan Yew received great support from former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), who allowed the Singaporean army to be dispatched to Taiwan for training.
However, Lee Teng-hui said that his and Lee Kuan Yew’s philosophies differed greatly, adding that he has faith in democracy and liberty, while Lee Kuan Yew’s “Asian values,” oversaw a political system in which “a whole family meddles in politics.”
“We were great friends and of similar ages, but to be honest, he depended on the Chinese [for support]. I do not feel like reliance on China is necessary, Taiwan should stand on its own two feet,” Lee Teng-hui said.
Taiwan struggled for 400 years to achieve self-governance, Lee Teng-hui said, adding that the hardship the nation edured was his motivation for taking good care of the country.
Many people survived Japanese colonial rule only to be governed by the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) regime, which treated Taiwanese as slaves, Lee Teng-hui said.
The most important attributes Taiwanese possess are freedom and democracy, values which set Taiwan apart from China, and definesa human being, he added.
Asked whether Lee Teng-hui would visit Singapore to pay tribute to his old friend Lee Kuan Yew, his office director Wang Yan-chun (王燕軍) said that the former president had sent his condolences via a telegram to the bereaved, after learning from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Lee Kuan Yew’s family have declined all offers of flowers.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS