The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday expressed regrets over President William Lai’s (賴清德) National Day address, saying it was beneath his station as president, disconnected from the public, ignored historical truths about Taiwan, and was oblivious to the difficulties facing the Taiwanese public today.
KMT spokesman Teng Kai-hsun (鄧凱勛) said Lai’s speech showed that he only has two approaches for handling cross-strait issues — relying on US President Donald Trump and calling out China — and lacked concrete methods to facilitate cross-strait interaction and dialogue.
The discontinuation of cross-strait dialogue has led to an unquestionable spiral of enmity, but Lai continues to indulge in ideological manipulation rather than seeking actual solutions, Teng said.
Photo: CNA
Lai’s claims of economic growth in his speech were “cold numbers” that ran counter to what Taiwanese are feeling, as more than 1.2 million people have a monthly wage of less than NT$31,000, Teng said, quoting part of Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) speech yesterday.
Young people face ever-increasing property and commodity prices while their wages stagnate, he said, adding that Lai should feel good about his governance only if people are benefiting from his policies, rather than rattling off statistics.
National Day should be a day of celebration for everyone in the nation, not a stage for the ruling party to indulge in self-praise, he said.
The nation would only continue to be rent asunder by warring ideologies while Lai lives in his own parallel universe created by slogans, he said.
The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) said the president’s National Day speech last year centered on “unify Taiwan, fulfill our dreams together,” but he has failed to deliver in reality, as the public instead witnessed Lai taking the lead in creating tension in society by backing a campaign to recall opposition lawmakers.
Noting this year Lai’s speech spoke of revitalizing Taiwanese democracy, strengthening the economy through innovation, providing balanced care, increasing influence with diplomatic partners, buttressing national defense resilience and promoting the greater good of the people, the TPP said it hoped those would not again become empty words.
The party hopes the president would be sincere in setting aside differences with all parties, it added.
Meanwhile, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said that Lai’s refusal in his National Day address to mention the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) or cross-strait interactions while stressing that “peace is won through strength” is a complete abandonment of obtaining a peaceful resolution on the cross-strait issue.
“That we are opting for direct military opposition is a dangerous signal and makes one pessimistic about the future,” Hsiao said, adding that a president focused on militaristic expansion would only make Taiwan a more dangerous place and leave its citizens with less dignity.
Hsiao said Lai’s insistence on using the word “China” to refer to Beijing and refusal to use the terms “mainland China” or “the mainland” since taking office last year are proof that he supports the “two-state theory,” adding that this leaves little room for both sides to maneuver.
The president of the Republic of China’s most important job is to ensure continued peace across the Taiwan Strait and the safety of Taiwan, and to do so, Lai must respect the Constitution and the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area so that Taiwan and China could arrive at a peaceful resolution of their differences based on the same political foundation, he said.
Additional reporting by Liu Wan-lin
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