Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said “students should follow the rules,” as rebellions are not always right, in reference to the storming of the Ministry of Education’s offices on Thursday night.
Hung was in Changhua County visiting supporters yesterday when she encountered several students holding banners protesting the proposed curriculum adjustments and calling on the KMT to release those arrested for their participation in the incursion at the ministry.
Hung said that the ministry cannot simply talk to a minority, adding that the curriculum adjustments are “things to be rationally discussed.”
Photo: Tang Shih-ming, Taipei Times
“However, rule of law is important and should be respected in a democratic society,” Hung said, stressing that, while students might be young and therefore entitled to make mistakes, “rules still need to be followed.”
“Do not engender a perception that Taiwan is in a downward spiral toward turmoil, where rebellion always seems to be right,” Hung said to the students in Changhua, asking them to rethink whether that is what they want the nation’s future to look like.
Hung said she hoped that politicians would not add fuel to the fire or follow hidden agendas to manufacture social problems, which would not be moral.
As for the incursion, Hung said it was “definitely a no-no.”
“Allowing students to storm the Ministry of Education would be like letting enterprises raid the Ministry of Economic Affairs and workers ransack a factory. That is not what we want for this society,” Hung said, calling on students to calmly and rationally examine the problems, as growing to maturity is a process of self-learning.
“Society is not what you imagine it is,” she said.
Regarding the arrest of several reporters during the incident, Hung said that, although she was not familiar with all the details, she believes that the reporters’ rights to gather news should be respected, but that abiding by the law is a requirement for everybody.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
RSS