Taiwan’s sovereignty and national security are in danger of being undermined from within by a proposed amendment from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Weng Hsiao-lin (翁曉玲) that would allow military and key government officials to salute China’s national flag, sing the Chinese national anthem and engage in other actions that recognize Beijing government’s political authority, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said.
Weng’s proposal amounts to opening the door for Taiwan’s retired military generals to take up Chinese propaganda warfare and ‘united front” (統戰) efforts by Beijing to subvert Taiwanese sovereignty, DPP Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said.
“We see these actions as treason ... to sell out Taiwan to China,” Shen said, adding that Weng’s proposal is the opposite of efforts by DPP lawmakers to safeguard national security against infiltration and subversion by China.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said that Weng “is dismantling the protective walls safeguarding Taiwan national security, by proposing to remove the laws protecting our national sovereignty.”
Weng in her heart wants to sing the Chinese national anthem and identifies China as her motherland, Hung said, asking whether other KMT officials support Weng’s proposal or view it as representative of the KMT’s party platform.
New Power Party Chairwoman Claire Wang (王婉諭) separately accused Weng of “working in Taiwan’s legislature as a foot soldier for China.”
She added that Weng’s proposal to permit retired generals to show loyalty to Chinese government “is a grave insult to all Taiwanese taxpayers who pay a portion of their hard-earned income toward the generous pensions of these military officials.”
“I want to know if KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) supports Weng’s proposal, which severely endangers Taiwan national sovereignty, and if the whole party agrees with it,” Wang said.
“Are KMT members not aware that China’s political doctrine calls for a military invasion of Taiwan?” she said.
Weng referred to her proposal as a “individual human rights” and “freedom of expression” issue. Earlier this week, she collected sufficient signatures from fellow KMT legislators to propose removing Article 9-3 of the amended Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
The article imposed a ban on active-duty military personnel and retired military personnel of major general or higher rank from engaging in acts such as saluting China’s national flag or its emblems, singing Chinese anthems or any other behaviors that recognize China’s political authority.
The same restrictions apply to senior civilian officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council, as well as senior officers in national security agencies.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS