The performance of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration over the past four years has been acceptable, but many issues remain, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said yesterday during a Pop Radio interview.
Commenting on pro-Taiwan independence groups urging Tsai to omit reference to the “Republic of China” (ROC) during her inaugural address on Wednesday next week, Chiang said that everyone is free to their own political opinion, but changing the name of the nation requires following democratic procedures.
He does not endorse those views, but Tsai’s address would likely use both ROC and Taiwan to refer to the nation, he said.
“If she did [comply with the demands of those groups], she should not be the president, as she was elected the president of the ROC,” Chiang said.
As for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Shih-ying’s (蔡適應) proposal to remove references to “the unification of the nation” from 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), Chiang said that the ruling party must observe the principles of democratic rule and be responsible in taking action on the issue.
The DPP has nothing to show for its efforts on such issues such as changing the name of the nation on passports or the name of China Airlines aside from making false accusations against the KMT, he said.
The KMT thinks Tsai Shih-ying should clarify his reasoning for such a change and then the KMT would announce its position on the issue, he said.
Although Tsai Ing-wen’s re-election appeared to show that the public supported her performance during her first-term, her vote tally was not so high when considering issues such as youth wages, labor and judicial reform, he said.
“The KMT will remind people of the problems Tsai’s administration has not solved,” he said.
Although international support for Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly (WHA) is at an all-time high, the US has not made an official appeal to the WHO, showing that it places its relationship with China above Taiwan, he said.
Taiwan’s apparent exclusion from next week’s WHA meeting — and its inability to stage a protest given that the meeting is held remotely this year — is a far cry from former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) terms in office, during which Taiwan took part in the WHA’s annual meetings as an observer from 2009 to 2016, Chiang said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
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