Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, yesterday said he does not care to respond to Chinese officials’ remarks on Taiwan’s election, as they have no experience of operating in a democracy.
Their “nonsensical comments” about Taiwan’s presidential election is proof that China is interfering in the vote, he added.
Lai, who yesterday announced that Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would be his running mate for the Jan. 13 election, was responding to media queries about remarks made by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮).
Photo: CNA
Zhu said that Lai and Hsiao are a “dual-separatist combination.”
Taiwanese should “be keenly aware” of what the ticket “means for the situation across the Taiwan Strait, the lives and fortunes of Taiwanese, and the future and destiny of Taiwan,” she said.
Separately, Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper yesterday quoted Shanghai TAO Deputy Director Yang Li-hua (陽禮華) as saying that Lai winning the election might help to accelerate the process of Taiwan’s unification with China.
Advocating Taiwanese independence would provide China with an opportunity to pursue unification, Yang was quoted as saying.
China “has no fear” and is able to deal with whoever wins the presidential election in January, he said.
However, if Lai is elected president, Beijing might be able to pursue unification much faster, he said.
On the other hand, if the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate won, the process might be slower, giving China “a few more years of development” to become even stronger, he said.
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DEMAND: The government should enact regulations in line with Austria and Germany to incorporate vegan nutrition into school meals, an advocate said More than 1,000 people yesterday marched in Taipei to promote veganism, calling for legislation to incorporate vegan diets into school lunches and the national net zero emissions program. Participants gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building for the march, which was organized by the Vegan Action Network (VAN). Former ambassador to Chad Chiu Chung-jen (邱仲仁), actor Yankee Yang (楊子儀) and actress Cindy Lien (連俞涵) attended the event. VAN member Marianne Chao (趙梅君) said that the campaign aimed to urge the government to promote vegan diets across schools and government agencies via legislation and national policies, which would help build
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