Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou, a member of Taiwan’s Kuomintang party, has announced that he will not attend this year’s national holiday known as “Double Tenth” in celebration of the 1911 birth of the Republic of China. Normally this holiday is known as “ROC National Day,” but over the last three years the event’s logo has been changed to read “Taiwan National Day” by Taiwan’s pro-independence president Tsai Ing-Wen. Ma said the government’s attempt to “sneak in Taiwan independence” was “deeply saddening.”
Ma Ying-jeou said he has never missed the event in more than 40 years; however, this time he could not “sit idly by while the DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] government jeopardizes Taiwan’s security and harms the ROC…. With a heavy heart, I announce my refusal to attend the October 10 National Day celebration this year,” Ma said.
