A politician and academics yesterday criticized KMT leaders for comparing Afghanistan to Taiwan, asking whether the KMT had forgotten that it fled China and committed atrocities in Taiwan during the White Terror era.
“It was nauseating for me to hear the KMT using what is happening in Afghanistan to mock Taiwanese,” independent Taipei City Councilor Lin Ying-Meng (林穎孟) wrote on Facebook yesterday. “Actually, if it had not fled to Taiwan, the KMT would have been totally wiped out by Chinese communist troops.”
“KMT leaders really have no shame,” she said. “They exploit the tragic events in which Afghan people have suffered death and devastation, with a self-indulgent attitude ... to taunt Taiwanese. Most of the public are disgusted by their remarks, but the KMT’s people believe they are the conquering heroes.”
When the KMT fled to Taiwan, it prolonged the Chinese Civil War, she said, adding: “It is the KMT who brought the war they were engaged in to Taiwan.”
It is a perversion of history to claim that the KMT was safeguarding Taiwan, Lin said.
“When they arrived in Taiwan, they committed atrocities and massacred Taiwanese. Then the KMT imposed a fascist dictatorship on Taiwan,” she said.
Tsai Tung-chieh (蔡東杰), a professor of international relations at National Chung Hsing University said that comparing Taiwan to Afghanistan, “is too simplistic, and lacks logic. It might be valid, if the US was withdrawing all American troops from around the world, or Taiwan-US relations were going downhill.”
“Yet right now, the US still has many troops and bases ... around the world, and Washington is likely to reinforce its military presence in Asia-Pacific region, in the post-Afghanistan war era. Therefore Taiwan would benefit ... as the US pivots to the Asia-Pacific to preserve regional security,” Tsai said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
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