Taiwanese dislike candidates using public fear and hatred as an election campaign strategy, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday, in response to remarks by the pan-blue and pan-green camps about cross-strait relations.
Taiwanese actress Vivian Sung (宋芸樺) on Thursday posted an apology on her Sina Weibo microblog, saying: “Taiwan is my hometown, China is my home country,” after Chinese netizens labeled her as a Taiwanese independence advocate, after she said her favorite country was Taiwan in a 2015 interview.
Taiwanese and Chinese netizens have debated the issue, while political figures have also weighed in on it, making remarks about cross-strait relations.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
At a Democratic Progressive Party campaign event promoting the party’s Taipei mayoral candidate Pasuya Yao (姚文智) and city councilor candidates on Friday evening, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said China’s suppression of Taiwan aims to crush Taiwanese’s self-confidence, and Taiwanese should be free to say that “Taiwan is their favorite country.”
Taiwanese independence advocates should not use recent incidents to cause trouble for Taiwan’s athletes and performers, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) said on Facebook, adding that “friends on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should give young people more encouragement and support,” because “are we not all a family?”
When asked about the issue, Ko yesterday said that cross-strait relations are becoming more tense, as both sides of the Strait are increasingly stressing their different ideologies.
The Sung incident is similar to that of Taiwanese K-pop idol Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) who in January 2016 was forced to apologize for waving a Republic of China flag, he said, adding that incidents like these only worsen the cross-strait relationship.
“My attitude [toward the issue] is to reduce tension and the risk of conflict,” Ko said, adding that Taiwan should first focus on improving itself, including its national defense and economic capabilities, because polls suggest that many Taiwanese do not think they are leading a good life.
“The appeals of both the pan-blue and pan-green camps are not necessarily in the best interests of Taiwan,” he said. “I personally feel that Taiwanese dislike the campaign strategy of manipulating people by playing on theirs fears and hatred.”
Ko also restated his “five mutual principles” for cross-strait relations — mutual recognition, mutual understanding, mutual respect, mutual cooperation and mutual consideration.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS