Mainland Affairs Council Minister (MAC) Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) yesterday declined to “participate” in Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s comparison of cross-strait relations as “a bastard and father’s relationship.”
The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate made the comparison during the Facing Yourself forum in Taipei on Sunday, when students asked if he would sign a peace treaty with China if he were elected.
“It is boring to stress [the nation’s] sovereignty,” Han said, adding that “cross-strait relations is a bastard and father’s relationship.”
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“Is this impressive enough?” Han said. “Very impressive, this sentence.”
“What is a bastard? I call you a bastard. What is father? Father gives anything [you] want,” he said.
“Is this not really easy to say? But what good does this do for you? What good does it do for 23 million people?” he said, apparently referring to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s Beijing policy.
“I will not participate” in the discussion, Chen told reporters before attending a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee.
Han campaign spokesperson Yeh Yuan-chih (葉元之) said the mayor was making the comparison that “cross-strait relations are not a zero-sum game.”
“As if saying ‘bastard’ is anti-communist and not saying it is pro-China or calling [China] ‘father,’” he said. “Cross-strait relations are complicated, not black and white.”
Asked on Tuesday about the comparison, which triggered a great deal of online debate, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said: “I am really unsure why he would say this. Many people appear not to understand either.”
“Cross-strait relations is a very important topic in terms of Taiwan’s overall field of public policy, and it concerns Taiwan’s future. So any political figure, when speaking about this, should be more careful,” she said.
At yesterday’s committee meeting, Chen assured Taiwanese businesses operating in China that they are not the focus of proposed amendments targeting Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents in Taiwan.
The government was in the process of integrating proposals from different lawmakers, and was collecting feedback, but a defensive network was needed in the face of CCP efforts to infiltrate Taiwan, he said.
The government was well aware of concerns within the business community, but sought to assure businesspeople that the amendments had “nothing to do with them,” he said,
They should freely engage in business in China and “earn a fortune,” he said.
Asked about Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung’s (徐國勇) meeting with the Reverend Peter Koon (管浩鳴) from Hong Kong, who is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Chen said that the MAC was aware of Koon’s political background, although Hsu had not initially known about it.
Hsu did not discuss cross-strait issues with Koon, Chen said.
As for proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) and proposed transparency rules for people working with foreign powers, the MAC would engage in cross-party talks to incorporate ideas from each caucus on the proposals, Chen said.
The KMT and the People First Party (PFP) caucuses have repeatedly submitted motions to reconsider the proposals, obstructing their submission to the review committee.
However, at Tuesday’s legislative session, DPP lawmakers overruled motions by the KMT and PFP, allowing the proposals to be sent for review.
The New Power Party caucus had been pushing for two readings of the proposals, but DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that given the considerable importance of the proposals and the many versions submitted, he hoped they could simplify the proposals through discussion, and then pass them in the next legislative session.
“We must protect the safety and democratic institutions of these 23 million people,” he said.
However, DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said there was no exact time frame for the review of the items, which also include amendments to Article 8 and Article 21 of the Lobbying Act (遊說法).
The DPP caucus thinks that dealing with the proposals should wait until the central government had dealt with the annual budget, he added.
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