The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is feigning ignorance of its members’ wrongdoing by demanding an investigation into the judiciary over allegations of signature fraud in its campaign to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, DPP Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said yesterday.
“KMT officials have accused the judiciary of unfairly targeting the party so as to shift the focus away from signature forgery cases in its recall petition drive. The KMT is trying to mislead the public and framing it as the ruling party’s political manipulation of the judiciary,” Chuang said.
Preliminary investigations by judicial authorities have found many cases of alleged forgery, signature fraud, and instances of one individual signing for many people in the KMT’s effort to recall DPP legislators, Chuang said when questioning Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙).
Photo: Taipei Times
“KMT members are being lazy. Instead of doing real work out on the street asking people to sign the recall petition, they copied names from lists of party members, which even include members who are deceased,” he said.
“KMT leaders should take responsibility for the forgeries and other breaches of the law in the recall drive, but they instead demand that President William Lai (賴清德) step down over the judicial investigation into these cases. They are talking like deranged people, as it was not Lai who instructed KMT members to commit fraud and forge signatures,” Chuang said.
Separately, Taiwan Forever Society director Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) also called out the hypocrisy of KMT leaders in calling for supporters to attend a rally on Saturday to protest against the DPP government, which the KMT has even titled: “Oppose Green Communists, Fight Dictatorship.”
“KMT officials are insulting everyone by saying Taiwan is now a dictatorship, but the rest of the world knows that the true dictatorship is in China. The KMT dare not criticize China and it is afraid of urging people to fight Chinese dictatorship,” Huang said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS