Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday accused President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of “belittling the official title” of the nation by describing herself as the “President of Taiwan” during her first overseas state visit.
“The Republic of China, abbreviated as ROC, is the title of our nation. It is the official national title under which we have repeatedly endeavored to seek global recognition,” the fomer Taipei mayor wrote on Facebook.
Hau posted a photograph of the message Tsai left in a visitor’s book after touring the sluice gates of the expanded Panama Canal on Sunday, in which she wrote: “Witnessing the centennial achievement, jointly creating future prosperity,” and identifying herself as “President of Taiwan [ROC].”
Tsai is on a nine-day trip to Panama and Paraguay that includes two transit stops in the US. She stopped in Miami, Florida, on Saturday on her way to Panama and she is to stop in Los Angeles on her return home.
Hau said that before the Jan. 16 presidential elections, Tsai had said on multiple occasions that she was running for “president of the ROC.”
“However, when Tsai, who is president of the ROC, travels overseas to one of the nation’s diplomatic allies, the ROC becomes merely a side note in parentheses,” Hau wrote.
It is ironic that at a time when just over 20 nations recognize the ROC, “our own president belittles the nation’s official title while standing on the soil of one of the nation’s diplomatic allies,” Hau said.
“We all identify with the island of Taiwan and recognize ourselves as Taiwanese, but that does not mean we should forsake or belittle our national title. Besides, for our president to take the lead in doing so overseas is something I cannot accept,” Hau said.
KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), a great-grandson of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), on Sunday also took issue with Tsai’s message in the visitors’ book, criticizing it as “extremely inappropriate.”
He told TVBS that such a message could spark an outpouring of controversy and that it would be more appropriate for Tsai to use her “official title” when writing an inscription for someone or leaving similar messages.
However, the KMT lawmaker’s remarks drew a sharp retort on Facebook from New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), who late on Sunday vented his discontent, posting: “Is it really that humiliating and difficult for the descendants of the Chiang family to utter the word Taiwan?”
Accusing the KMT of acting schizophrenically, Hsu said that the KMT had lambasted Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Tzou-yien (林奏延) for not mentioning “Taiwan” in his speech at the World Health Assembly last month, yet the party has problems with Tsai describing herself as “president of Taiwan.”
“If Chiang Wan-an thinks it is extremely inappropriate for Tsai to describe herself as ‘president of Taiwan,’ does it mean the only befitting title for the president is ‘leader of the ROC, Taiwan area’ because it conforms to the ‘one China’ principle?” Hsu wrote.
He said that the KMT and its members should refrain from unreasonable invectives.
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
RSS