The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday accepted an appeal to remand a decision to suspend Central Standing Committee member Ho Ying-lu (何鷹鷺) from her position on the committee, but said that until a new decision is reached, she is still “suspended from party duties.”
Ho made a video on Douyin (抖音) on Oct. 31 during a trip to Yanan, Shanxi Province, during which she wore a shirt with a profile picture of Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and said she hoped “Taiwan would return to the embrace of the motherland as soon as possible.”
The KMT Disciplinary Committee on Tuesday passed a resolution to suspend Ho. Yesterday it accepted Ho’s appeal to remand the decision for review as per party regulations, committee director-general Chang Ya-ping (張雅屏) said yesterday.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
During an interview yesterday, Ho said she was brought up under the education of the “motherland” and that, while she was a lawful citizen of the Republic of China (ROC), she could not abandon or stop loving the “motherland,” adding that she hopes for peace across the Taiwan Strait.
Ho is a Chinese spouse who has obtained Taiwanese citizenship.
KMT Legislator Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲), doubling as the KMT Culture and Communications Committee head, yesterday said that if party members’ acts or speech affected the party, the party would act accordingly.
Separately, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) said the KMT should not only discipline its Central Standing Committee members, but should also discipline KMT Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) for his “one country, two regions” comments on Monday.
Lai said that everyone knew the “one country” in the comments referred to the People’s Republic of China, and that making such statements implicitly acknowledges that Taiwan is a “region” under China and that the ROC has “disappeared.”
Taiwan Society chairman Weng Ming-jang (翁銘章) yesterday said that the KMT is operating on double standards if it is only going to discipline Ho, but fails to discipline Hsiao or KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文).
Cheng had attended an event commemorating Wu Shi (吳石), a lieutenant general who was executed after being convicted of spying for the CCP during the White Terror era under the orders of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).
Additional reporting by Hsieh Chun-lin and Chen Yu-fu
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