New Party legislator-at-large nominee Chiu Yi (邱毅) was forced to put a freeze on his mobile phone number after more than 1,000 “young Taiwanese independence advocates” reportedly called his phone in one hour, he said in a YouTube video on Saturday last week.
He filed a complaint with the police, he said, adding that he suspected that those responsible for posting his number online were motivated by a lawsuit he and others filed against Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Nov. 26.
However, during a New Party press conference on Nov. 21, Chiu exposed his phone number publicly when he held it out to show that Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) had called him to congratulate him on his nomination.
Photo: Screen grab from the Internet
Local media reports said that Chiu’s phone number was visible on the phone’s screen.
Chiu said that he is unable to make phone calls and must rely on the Chinese social networking app WeChat to communicate with others.
On his YouTube program Chiu Yi Speaks (邱毅說) — on which he often claims the US is encouraging “Taiwanese independence advocates” — he criticized young Taiwanese who “think Taiwan is so great” and that the Taiwanese military could defeat the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
“There are really people who are that stupid,” Chiu said.
On the program, Chiu said that former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had “made young Taiwanese stupid” and that they “blindly follow separatists.”
Chiu also accused President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of “incessantly vilifying Han,” and for “brainwashing people under 40.”
“I can’t explain why [young Taiwanese] are so stupid, but if I call them stupid they are unhappy,” he said. “They say I look down on them and that they want to boycott me and attack me, and even tie up my phone,” he said.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
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