Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials on Wednesday criticized independent Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) for citing Chinese reports during the previous day’s legislative session, and questioned her claims that the US is using a fellowship exchange program to influence the government and provoke a war with China.
During the legislative session on Tuesday, Chin presented information on slides featuring simplified Chinese characters, “and also used the same format and phrasing as used in official Chinese documents,” DPP spokesman Chang Chih-hao (張志豪) said.
Chang and DPP Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said that materials on several slides were copied from Chinese investment firm reports outlining trade disputes the country had with the US and Japan, including semiconductor sanctions dating back to the 1980s and disputes regarding steel products dating back to the 1960s.
Photo: CNA
“We have this legislator who uses data and reports coming from Chinese business and government to question our officials,” Chang said.
“I believe Chin prepared her questioning using materials and reports supplied by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP], and followed their script,” he said.
By doing so, she represented the Chinese government, not Taiwanese, he added.
“Chin misrepresented the US Taiwan Fellowship Program as working to control our government,” Chang said.
Chin is aligning with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and pan-blue camp to promote the idea that “the US will not come to Taiwan’s defense,” he said.
“Chin is oblivious to the fact that China is the foremost threat to Taiwan’s existence. It has been unrelenting in its military incursions, in undermining Taiwan’s security and attempting to isolate the country internationally,” Chang said.
“She dared not to ask China to remove missiles aimed at us while expecting Taiwan not to arm itself and prepare for war. It is disappointing to see her pandering to China,” Chang said.
“Chin enjoys the fruits of Taiwan’s democratic systems and free parliamentary elections, but self-identifies as a member of China’s ethnic minority,” DPP Legislator Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said.
Chin’s ideas are not acceptable to most Taiwanese, Liu added.
DPP caucus deputy secretary-general Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said that Chin supports “China’s rise as a regional power.”
“Chin is engaging in China’s propaganda warfare,” Hung said.
During her address on Tuesday, Chin said that Ukraine is now at war because the US had a Ukraine Fellowship Program and other exchanges with the country that are similar to the Taiwan Fellowship Program, which is being used to promote war against China to benefit US business interests.
“What you are saying is incorrect,” Chen said.
Chin’s father was a Chinese soldier who arrived in Taiwan with the KMT in the late 1940s during the Chinese Civil War. Her mother is from the indigenous Atayal community, making Chin eligible to run in elections as a representative of an indigenous electoral district.
Chin was first elected to the legislature in 2002, and has worked closely with the KMT legislative caucus.
Measures have been taken to minimize damage from Chinese espionage, the Ministry of National Defense said on Monday, in response to an alleged plan to deliver a Chinook helicopter to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. The Chinese-language CTWANT magazine earlier in the day reported that a lieutenant colonel surnamed Hsieh (謝) was approached by Chinese officers with an offer to evacuate his family to Thailand in the event of a cross-strait conflict. In exchange, Hsieh was asked to fly a CH-47F Chinook helicopter to a Chinese aircraft carrier in the Taiwan Strait, the magazine said. Hsieh initially declined, but accepted after he was
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
CHINA illness surge: Of 88 travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau with respiratory symptoms who were encouraged to get tested upon arrival, 70.6% had the flu Two hundred and sixty people with COVID-19 were hospitalized and 31 deaths related to the virus were reported last week — the highest numbers in four weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that cases are expected to peak next month. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said that of the 260 people hospitalized last week with moderate to severe COVID-19, 98 percent had not received the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine. Among the people hospitalized this year, 78 percent were aged 65 or older, while most of the those who were hospitalized or died have or had
RSS