New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, yesterday apologized to German Marshall Fund Indo-Pacific Program managing director Bonnie Glaser for featuring her in a picture that was shown while he presented his national defense and foreign policy on Monday.
Glaser posted on X a photograph Hou used in his presentation, in which she appeared happy to meet with him. She then tagged both the KMT and Hou, saying: “Please do not use my photo or my statements in ways that suggest I have endorsed Mayor Hou. I have not.”
“We used pictures of US political experts we met during our trip to the US as background, which led to misunderstandings. I would like to apologize to Glaser, and we will quickly make adjustments,” Hou told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference at his campaign headquarters in New Taipei City yesterday morning.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“We respect Glaser and are glad to have met her during the trip to the US,” he said.
KMT Legislator Lee De-wei (李德維), who is also the deputy secretary-general of the KMT caucus, told reporters that Glaser might be overly concerned about the message that the picture could convey.
“Everyone knows that Glaser leans toward the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and there is no way that she would support Hou,” Lee said.
Photo: screen grab from Bonnie Glaser’s X account
The DPP accused Hou of imitating the party’s national defense and foreign policies, adding that most of what he proposed has already been accomplished by the current government.
In response, Hou accused the DPP of showing neither heart nor strength in foreign policy.
“My national defense policy is to prepare for war, but not to provoke. The DPP claims that it is prepared for war, but it continues to provoke with its agenda of supporting Taiwanese independence... We nominated former deputy minister of national defense Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康) as a legislator-at-large, while Lai nominated Kuma Academy cofounder Puma Shen (沈伯洋). The comparison clearly shows which party pays more attention to national defense issues,” Hou said.
Hou also criticized Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫?) for saying the classic legalist concepts of “integrity” and “shame” were the result of monarchial thinking when You was asked about a controversy over curriculum guidelines implemented in schools since 2019.
“Loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, trustworthiness, peace, propriety, justice and integrity are virtues that we teach our children. It has nothing to do with a monarchy or feudal system,” he said.
Japan and South Korea are both democratic nations that have incorporated moral education in the school curriculum, Hou said.
“Confucian philosophy does not conflict with democratic ideals, and the DPP should not replace moral education with its political ideologies,” he said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS