Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member Harry Lee’s (李來希) criticism of New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭), including his comments about Wang’s slain daughter, yesterday sparked a public outcry, prompting the KMT to distance itself from Lee.
“Wang has forgotten where she came from, using her own daughter’s head as a stepping stone,” Lee said, accusing Wang of exploiting her daughter’s death for her own political gain.
Lee, best known for leading protests against the government’s pension reform targeting civil servants, said on Facebook that Wang had no feud with Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), and therefore no reason to support Han’s recall.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
“The head of ‘little lightbulb’ had been kicked to Kaohsiung by her mother,” he added.
Wang’s four-year-old daughter, nicknamed “little lightbulb,” was beheaded in 2016 by then-33-year-old Wang Ching-yu (王景玉), who was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The Supreme Court on April 15 dismissed Claire Wang’s appeal and upheld a lower court’s ruling of life imprisonment and civil rights deprivation for life for Wang Ching-yu.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Claire Wang said that her personal loss should not be used to create political confrontation and panned Lee for making such vitriolic comments.
She said that Lee was not the first to make such comments and she believed that a politician should only be criticized in the performance of their duties.
Lee’s comments underscored the public mindset that victims, or their families, must be “helpless and weak” and not be allowed an opinion, she said, adding that this mindset turns the public against victims when they try to appeal for redress, blaming them for “using the death of a family to advance their own cause.”
Despite the protection of freedom of speech, such malevolent speech should not be allowed for it contributes nothing to the nation’s advancement, Wang said.
NPP Chairman Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) strongly condemned Lee’s comments, calling on Han, who has long called for open-mindedness, and the KMT to make known their stance regarding such malignant commentary.
The KMT does not condone Lee’s commentary and urges him to issue an apology, KMT Culture and Communications Committee chair Alicia Wang (王育敏) said.
The party, like Han, feels that Lee’s comments was rubbing salt in Wang’s wounds and the death of a child should not be talked about in such a manner, Alicia Wang said.
KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said on Facebook that Lee’s manipulation of a tragedy — and the fear of any parent — was despicable and should not be condoned.
“One can have different political views, but one should, as a decent human being, know that there are lines that should not be crossed,” Chiang said.
Should Lee refuse to apologize, the party would forward the issue to the Central Evaluation and Discipline Committee, which would begin a probe against Lee by the local party chapter, a source in the party said on condition of anonymity.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
RSS