Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday compared the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to Germany under Hitler, leading to the German Institute Taipei expressing its “deep disappointment and concern” in a social media post.
At a meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee yesterday, Chu drew parallels between the DPP under President William Lai (賴清德) now and the fascism of Germany under Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini in the 1930s.
The comments came the day before the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender in World War II today, memorialized in some nations as “Victory in Europe Day.”
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
Lai claims to uphold democracy but is using judicial means to “eliminate” the opposition with the goal of becoming a dictator, Chu said, just like the Nazi’s manipulated legal procedures to dismantle democracy and eliminate dissent in pre-war Germany.
Chu was referring to the questioning of several KMT staffers and searches of KMT offices around Taiwan by prosecutors for alleged petition fraud in recall campaigns against DPP politicians.
In an English-language post on its Facebook page, the German Institute Taipei, the overseas representative office of Germany, said “We must state unequivocally: Taiwan today is in no way comparable to the tyranny of National Socialism [the Nazi Party].”
“We respectfully call on the KMT leadership to refrain from invoking inappropriate and historically insensitive comparisons in domestic political discourse,” it added.
In an interview today, Chu said that foreign governments should not seek to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, adding that his comparison was legitimate given Lai’s “persecution” of the opposition.
“History teaches us a vital lesson: while democracies may give rise to fascism, fascism always destroys democracy, tramples human rights, and devastates societies,” Chu said on Facebook today.
“[The KMT] will continue to defend the constitutional democracy of the Republic of China and work alongside all freedom-loving people to ensure that Taiwan’s future remains free from oppression by those in power,” Chu added.
The Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei said Chu’s comments were extremely offensive and unacceptable to the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust and those who survived the experience.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Ming-chi (陳明祺) agreed with the institute’s statement, saying that Chu’s analogy was not appropriate.
Chen said the government is going to explain to every European country’s office in Taipei that “this is not the mainstream public opinion in Taiwan.”
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) also said Chu’s comment is inappropriate as he should not compare the prosecutors’ investigations with genocide.
Department of European Affairs Deputy-Director Lin Chu-en (林主恩) said the Nazi’s extreme ideology led to genocide and ethnic cleansing and that was a part of Germany’s painful history.
The painful history of authoritarian rule, colonial rule, war or military conflict experienced by other country or nations should not be used as an offensive, said Lai Chun-chao (賴俊兆), director of Executive Yuan’s Department of Human Rights and Transitional Justice.
DPP Legislator Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) called on Chu to apologize not only to Germany but also the Taiwanese public for his comments, saying that Nazis should not be invoked as “political rhetoric” or “election fodder.”
This comes less than one month after a man leading a recall campaign against a DPP legislator wore a Nazi armband and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf into the New Taipei District Prosecutors' Office when summoned for questioning.
At the time, Chu said that the act was intended to “satirize the DPP dictatorship,” although the KMT did make a formal statement “firmly opposing” fascism the following day.
Additional reporting by Huang Ching-hsuan, Fang Wei-li, Hsieh Chun-lin, Shih Hsiao-kuang, Chung Li-hua and Fion Khan
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