Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said he would not respond to a derogatory epithet that singer Christine Fan (范瑋琪) used to refer to him after he ordered a halt on exports of masks amid fears of a local novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak.
Fan on Tuesday wrote on Facebook that Su was a “damned thug,” a “dog of a bureaucrat” and a “bastard” for issuing a directive on Friday last week to suspend exports of N95 respirators and masks made of woven materials until Feb. 23.
Fan wrote that Su was “inhuman” and asked whether an ordinary human being could have done such a thing.
Photo: Wang Wen-lin, Taipei Times
She deleted the post after it prompted outrage online and on Tuesday apologized, writing that she only hopes that people would “treat one another with love and care.”
However, Fan’s apology did not appease many, with about 172,000 Facebook users reacting to it with the “angry” emoji, while many left angry comments.
“Apparently, renminbi smells better. Before asking for people to show more love and care, why don’t you start with yourself?” Alison Wu wrote. “There is a shortage of masks domestically, yet you worry about the country on the other side of the Taiwan Strait first.”
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ho Chih-wei (何志偉) yesterday said he received a call from Fan’s husband, TV personality Blackie Chen (陳建州), asking Ho to arrange a meeting between Su, his wife and himself, so that the couple could apologize to the premier in person.
Ho said he agreed to Chen’s request and relayed the message to Su’s office.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka quoted Su as saying that he would not pay any attention to Fan’s comments.
Su asked the couple to join efforts to prevent the spread of 2019-nCoV, which is the “most pressing matter at hand,” she said.
However, Su did not decline the couple’s request for a meeting, as some media reported, Kolas said.
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