Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Culture and Communications Committee deputy director-general Lee Ming-hsien (李明賢) yesterday panned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for masking the word “Chinese” in the party’s name on an envelope addressed to the party last week.
Covering the word “clearly had a political connotation of desinicization and was very rude,” he said at a news conference.
“Such disrespectful behavior toward one of the nation’s political parties should be thoroughly investigated by the ministry,” Lee said, adding that the KMT expects a clear explanation from the government.
The envelope contained a thank-you note from a foreign guest to KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), he said.
Lee said he was not satisfied with the ministry’s explanation that a functionary committed an “operational error,” because the ministry has ready-made stamps bearing the KMT name for correspondence.
It is strange that a functionary would think to alter a stamp that has been in constant use at the ministry, Lee said, adding that the breach in protocol was lamentable.
High-ranking ministry officials on Tuesday apologized over the incident, said a KMT member who requested anonymity, adding that the party is not satisfied with the ministry’s explanations.
“It is unthinkable that someone would stamp the envelope and then mask the word ‘Chinese’ because of a so-called operational error,” the member said. “Does the functionary lack the common knowledge of political parties’ names?”
“Is the ministry trying to pick up where the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee left off in destroying the KMT?” the member added.
Asked for comment, the ministry said the mishap was an isolated incident and apologized for any misunderstandings it might have caused.
All of the ministry’s communications to the nation’s political parties or other groups address the recipient organization by its full name, the ministry said.
“We will pay more attention and demand higher standards [of our employees] in the future,” it added.
Additional reporting by CNA
AGGRESSION: China’s latest intrusions set a new benchmark for its ‘gray zone’ tactics and possibly a new pattern that it would attempt to normalize, a researcher said China’s latest military exercises represent a new challenge to Taiwan’s legal authority to demarcate its borders in the Taiwan Strait, a defense expert said, adding that the fleets in the latest exercises were likely the most powerful the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ever assembled. The PLA conducted military exercises from Sunday last week to 6am on Friday, which encompassed large swathes of the western Pacific, including the Taiwan Strait and waters off the Philippines and Guam, National Policy Foundation associate research fellow Chieh Chung (揭仲) said on Friday. The Ministry of National Defense said that it detected 70 warship and 162 aircraft
DOMESTIC MARKET: To protect the livelihoods of local egg farmers, the government adopted a new method for releasing imported eggs, the agriculture minister said More than 54 million imported eggs will be disposed, as their expiration date has passed, Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday. Chen made the remarks at a news conference in Taipei, explaining the flow of imported eggs following recent controversies regarding the products. The ministry introduced a special egg import program to address a nationwide egg shortage earlier this year. However, controversies have risen in recent weeks. These included an accusation that the government helped some egg importing companies over others, eggs imported from Brazil that had an incorrect expiration date, and egg shipments from Brazil that were found
PACIFIC OCEAN: Defense experts have warned that the ‘Shandong,’ China’s second largest aircraft carrier, poses a serious threat to eastern Taiwan’s defenses The drills conducted by the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Western Pacific last week were more aimed at showcasing China’s military capabilities to the US rather than toward Taiwan, a Taiwanese defense expert said yesterday. Lin Yin-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said the drills which involved dozens of warplanes sought to test China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities should the US and its allies attempt to interfere in a cross-strait conflict. Lin said that the latest Chinese drills coincided with a joint maritime exercise conducted by the US, South Korea
Thousands of bottles of Sriracha have been returned or destroyed after the discovery of excessive sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday. About 12,600 bottles totaling 9,991.8kg of the hot sauce imported from the US by Emporium Corp (河洛企業) were flagged at the border for containing illegal levels of sulfur dioxide, the FDA said in its regular border inspection announcement. Inspectors discovered 0.5g per kilogram of the common bleaching agent and preservative, higher than the 0.03g permitted, it said. As it is the first time within six months the product has been flagged, Sriracha products from