President Lai Makes Recall-Related Metaphor in Unity Speech

TaiwanPlus News

President Lai Ching-te was in Taoyuan City to address the nation in his second of ten speeches. One metaphor, in which he says recalls and elections are necessary for democracy and drive out "impurities," has sparked angry reactions from the opposition.

Transcript

00:00Giving a warm greeting in the local Haka dialect,

00:06President Lai Qingdeh addresses the nation from Taoyuan in the second of 10 planned speeches.

00:11The theme, unity.

00:13Lai is saying Taiwan has repeatedly come together to find success,

00:17from COVID-19 control to the world-leading semiconductor industry.

00:21And most importantly, there is turbulent democratization.

00:25Lai also continued the theme from his first speech,

00:27that people should embrace both the country's official name, the Republic of China,

00:32and its common name, Taiwan.

00:35But it was another line that drew all the headlines.

00:37We need to make a vote for once and once again,

00:42a vote for once and once again,

00:45like the鐵,

00:48as the same as the鐵,

00:49one and the other,

00:51a thousand and a hundred,

00:53a hundred and a hundred.

00:54The iron-striking metaphor,

01:06specifically the term impurities,

01:08seemingly linked to upcoming mass recall votes,

01:11against politicians from the opposition Kuomintang, or KMT,

01:14and Taiwan People's Party, or TPP,

01:17who together control Taiwan's legislature.

01:19On Tuesday, the KMT called out what he sees as hypocrisy from Lai

01:23and the party he leads,

01:25the Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP.

01:27The presidential office has responded to the mounting criticism,

01:43saying the metaphor has been used publicly before,

01:46and Lai was trying to emphasize uniting Taiwan against an external threat.

01:51With eight more unity talks left to give,

01:53Lai will be hoping the focus can return to bring the country together.

01:57Ryan Wu and Irene Lin for Taiwan Plus.

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