Taiwanese independence advocates yesterday held a protest outside the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) headquarters in Taipei, saying that KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) is selling out Taiwan and conspiring with China to oust pro-Taiwan politicians.
The protest was headed by Taiwan Republic chairman Chilly Chen (陳峻涵), with independence advocates throwing eggs onto the pavement outside the building.
The advocates called the protest after Chu’s remarks in the wake of the recall of Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) that the KMT would target other lawmakers as well.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Chu said that those who “stand up against China, safeguarding Taiwan” would be targets.
“Elected politicians must face their own constituents, they should not engage in political ideology,” Chu said.
Chilly Chen said that Chu is colluding with Beijing and that he made his statements on behalf of the Chinese government.
“We have reasons to suspect that there is a conspiracy,” he said.
During her Double Ten National Day address, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that Taiwan must defend its sovereignty and democracy amid unprecedented challenges brought by China’s increasing military coercion, Chilly Chen said, adding that polls show that 80 percent of the public support that position.
“Why is Chu and the KMT going against the will of Taiwanese?” Chilly Chen asked, adding that the remarks resembled those made by Beijing in the past months.
The KMT and pan-blue forces have said that one of their targets might be Independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐), who at a separate event chided Chu’s remarks.
“A worldwide alliance of democratic nations, which includes Taiwan, must seriously face up to the challenges” China poses, he said.
“The KMT continues to engage in politics of hatred... We shall face it directly to fight against the recall campaigns,” Lim said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s