The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should stop misleading the international community over its stance toward Washington, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials said yesterday, the first day of KMT Chairman Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) 11-day trip to the US.
Chu last year led his party in the fight against pork imports containing traces of ractopamine, which is permitted as feed additive in the US, with his party calling US imports in its campaign ahead of a referendum in December “toxic pork,” they said.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) said that Chu in October last year called US pork “deranged,” implying that it might cause mental harm to those eating it.
Ahead of a planned visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in April, KMT Department of International Affairs director Alexander Huang (黃介正) stated that “US officials coming to visit Taiwan would not be helpful,” Lin said.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT has repeatedly denigrated Taiwan-US military ties, Lin said, citing Ma as saying that the “US would only sell weapons to Taiwan, but they will not send troops” if a cross-strait war breaks out.
Lin also rebutted remarks Chu made before starting his trip, when the KMT leader told reporters that the DPP is trying to discredit his party by saying it is “anti-US” and “pro-China.”
Referring to Chu’s statement that the KMT is Washington’s ally in “safeguarding democracy and freedom,” Lin said: “We ask the KMT not to disseminate these deceptive and confusing messages to the world.”
Chu claims that the KMT is promoting US-friendly policies, but the party has been defending China’s military threats and intimidation against Taiwan, and trying to hobble the government’s efforts to deepen Taiwan’s relationship with the US, Lin said.
The KMT should drop its pro-China stance, so that all the nation’s major parties can work together to fight against Beijing’s coercion and garner support from other democratic countries, he said.
However, Lin said he does not see the KMT changing its position in the near future, as some senior KMT officials are outspoken about their support for the Chinese government, citing a Beijing-sponsored trip to Xinjiang by former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) last month.
Hung praised Beijing’s policies in the region and denied reports of oppression of Uighurs, Lin said.
Hung’s trip followed a 2016 trip to Beijing by KMT Legislator Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), who attended an event at which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) gave a speech and stood up when the Chinese national anthem was played, Lin said.
Separately, DPP Keelung Councilor Jiho Chang (張之豪) said that KMT members have criticized his party for policies it deems too close to Washington.
The KMT is using disinformation to delegitimize the government, Chang said.
“We must not forget that the KMT claimed that eating US pork containing ractopamine residue will cause men’s testicles to wither and get smaller,” he said.
Chang said that Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) of the KMT in 2020 stated her opposition to US pork imports during a meeting at her office with then-American Institute in Taiwan director Brent Christensen, but did not permit him to answer reporters’ questions on the issue.
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