While world leaders have condemned the storming of the US Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, the silence from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) is cause for concern, former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) office said yesterday.
The US is Taiwan’s most important ally and the Tsai administration prides itself for maintaining good Taiwan-US relations, as well as being vocal in its support for democracy advocacy movements in Hong Kong, the office said in a statement.
Aside from a brief mention of “regretting the incident” by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Tsai administration has been silent on the incident, which trampled the principles of democracy, the office said.
This might cause the administration of US president-elect Joe Biden to entertain the thought that Tsai, if she does not support the violence outright, at least condones it, the office said.
Heads of state around the world condemned the act, because no government that embraces the principles of a democratic system of government and the rule of law would condone a government building being overrun by violence, it said.
Regardless of their platform, no group should exceed the boundaries of the law, it said.
The office said that the united stance of politicians across party lines in the US to condemn the intrusion into the Capitol was in stark contrast to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), whose members openly supported a takeover of the legislature in Taipei in 2014.
In the Sunflower movement, a student-led group protesting the abrupt passage of a cross-strait service trade agreement occupied the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber for 23 days.
It needs to be asked why the DPP’s definition of democracy and the rule of law seems to differ greatly from that of the rest of the world, the office said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
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