The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday reiterated its stance on protecting the nation’s democracy as it responded to the resignation of a campaign spokeswoman over a controversial remark about unification with China.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) former re-election campaign spokeswoman, Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀), resigned on Friday after she came under fire for saying in an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle on Thursday that, in terms of national sovereignty, proposing unification with a hostile power such as China constitutes “treason.”
The remarks were seen as highly controversial, coming just days after the DPP rammed an anti-infiltration law through the Legislature on Dec. 31 that criminalizes political activities backed by hostile foreign forces such as China.
Photo: Su Fun-her, Taipei Times
Lin said in the interview that China had threatened Taiwan with use of military force, and that legislation passed last year meant there would be consequences for retired military officers who participated in political events in China.
The protection of Taiwan’s democratic systems and its way of life, and the rejection of any scenario in which the Republic of China would cease to exist, such as China’s “one country, two systems” formula, were matters of consensus among the nation’s 23 million people, the DPP said yesterday.
The DPP has walked hand-in-hand with Taiwanese for 30 years, fighting for political transformation, freedom from the one-party, authoritarian regime of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and the establishment of a country free of fear, the DPP said.
Having become a mature democracy where freedom of speech is protected by law, Taiwan would not return to a period of “white terror,” it said.
The DPP’s passage last year of the Resolution on a Shared Journey With Society (社會同行世代共贏決議文) was in the spirit of the party’s 1999 Resolution on Taiwan’s Future (台灣前途決議文), and reiterated its stance on national reform and the nation’s self-determination, it said.
No party, including the DPP, could make decisions on behalf of the public, it said.
Separately, Tsai said on Facebook that democracy has always been the party’s core value, and that it had never viewed differing political views as treasonous.
“Let me clearly state that our nation’s name is the Republic of China, and the sovereignty of that nation is in the hands of its 23 million people. Therefore, there is no issue involving the renaming of the country,” Tsai said.
Her most important responsibility as president is the defense of the nation’s sovereignty, freedoms and democratic way of life, she said.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘LONE WOLF’: The suspect was difficult to locate, as he did not use a cellphone, did not contact family and often lived in abandoned sites or parks, police said Taipei police on Thursday morning arrested a man accused of numerous burglaries and at least 14 incidents of sexual assault spanning more than 20 years, in what might be the nation’s most notorious crime spree in recent years. Sixty-year-old Tu Ming-lang (涂明朗) — who was yesterday placed in judicial detention, after a judge determined he was a flight risk without a fixed address — faces multiple charges of sexual assault and burglary, police said. A task force comprised of various law enforcement agencies arrested Tu as part of an investigation into an April 28 burglary in Daan District (大安), in which a
Ninth graders were asked to define “trolling” on this year’s standardized exam, reflecting efforts to make the test better reflect real-life situations. Adjustments to this year’s Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students were revealed on Sunday, after the last cohort of students completed the test over the weekend. The Ministry of Education solicited feedback about the test from teachers, who approved of the new question in the English portion. Not only was question No. 20 “very much in line with real-life situations,” but it also used a new style in which students were asked to ascertain the correct dictionary definition based
Taiwan is on alert for monkeypox, a rare viral disease that has caused 87 infections in 11 countries over the past three weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Saturday. The WHO on Friday convened an emergency session to discuss a sudden outbreak of monkeypox in North America and Europe. Since the beginning of this month, 87 confirmed cases and 28 possible cases have been identified in 11 countries. The countries with the highest case counts are England with 29 cases, and Portugal and Spain with 23 each. Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease occurring primarily in the tropical rainforest areas
Three human skeletons and artifacts believed to be about 400 years old were unearthed by construction workers at National Ilan University in Yilan County, the university said yesterday. The discoveries were made on May 10 as workers were digging to expand the College of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science’s facilities, the university said in a statement. The skeletons were found at three sites, along with glass beads, copper bells and rings, discs and a fish-shaped metal knot, it said. The find is likely connected to the “Old Baili Village” (擺厘舊社, Bai Li Jiu She), an as-yet-undiscovered Kavalan settlement that has been mentioned in