Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) apology for a controversial remark on cross-strait relations and his support for President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) re-election bid were yesterday met with a lukewarm response from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Ko on Tuesday said on a radio talk show that he supports Tsai running for re-election in 2020 and apologized for saying that the “two sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family.”
The show sparked great controversy when it was broadcast on Wednesday, with many interpreting it as Ko’s attempt to seek cooperation from the DPP, which endorsed the physician-turned-politician in the 2014 race, for this year’s Taipei mayoral election.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Ko’s comments should not be overinterpreted, as there are more important things for the DPP to consider when determining its election strategy for the Taipei mayoral race, Tsai told reporters during a visit to Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park yesterday.
The DPP’s top priorities for Taipei are the expectations of its residents and their vision for the city, Tsai said, adding that the party would also consider how to best assist the central government to implement policies that require collaboration with the city government.
“We must not forget what we have set out to achieve in the first place,” she said.
Asked about Ko’s remarks on the talk show, DPP Electoral Strategy Committee coconvener Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) said: “All I can say is that I know what he was trying to say.”
Chen said he believed Ko was trying to help DPP supporters understand why he had made the “one family” comment.
“He is apparently making a friendly gesture to the party,” he added.
Chen said he was not surprised that Ko supports Tsai running for re-election, because Ko has expressed that position before.
The committee has standard procedures and would not allow outside factors to affect its election strategies, he said.
It would gauge public opinion and try to better understand what DPP supporters think, he added.
Ko’s apology indicated that he “finally realized he had hurt the feelings of many DPP supporters,” DPP Taipei chapter director Huang Cheng-kuo (黃承國) said.
Ko explained the context in which he made the comment and supporters will make their own decisions on what to make of it, he said.
Meanwhile, former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), who was nominated by the KMT as its Taipei mayoral candidate on Wednesday, criticized Ko for flip-flopping and called him a “jellyfish” that is quick to bend to pressure.
Ko told reporters on the sidelines of a Mother’s Day event in Taipei yesterday that it is difficult to maintain balance and keep going in a society as politically polarized as Taiwan’s.
One group criticized him for making the “one family” comment, while the other criticized him for apologizing, he said.
He apologized in the hope of appeasing those who were displeased by the comment, Ko said.
“They were upset. What can I do?” he added.
Ko said he was convinced by Taipei Deputy Mayor Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) and radio talk show host Chen Yue-hsin (陳雨鑫) to do the interview and clear up possible misunderstandings.
He has always proposed maintaining economic ties and reducing tensions with China, he said.
Additional reporting by Ann Maxon
HONG KONG SECURITY: The president blasted regulations requiring Taiwanese agents or political organizations to provide information on their Hong Kong-related activities President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday warned of countermeasures should controversial Chinese national security legislation imposed on Hong Kong undermine or harm Taiwanese interests. Article 43 of the legislation empowers the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to serve written notices to Taiwanese political organizations or individual agents to furnish information on their Hong Kong-related activities, including their personal particulars, finances, assets, expenditure and capital in the territory. Failure to comply or providing false or incomplete information can result in a fine of HK$100,000 (US$12,903) or imprisonment of six months or two years respectively. Tsai said that Taiwan would keep a close watch on how
CAUTION: Taiwanese should be alert, even if they have just liked or shared posts that would breach Beijing’s national security legislation for Hong Kong, the council said Due to the newly implemented Hong Kong national security legislation, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has drawn up a list of what it described as “high-risk groups,” cautioning them not to travel to Hong Kong. People who support independence for Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang; those who are critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Hong Kong government and the “one country, two systems” concept; and those who donated to or voiced support for the Hong Kong anti-extradition bill movement are urged to refrain from visiting Hong Kong, the council said on its Web site. It released two posts on
MORAL COURAGE: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the global community to face China’s intention to subdue Taiwan and reject such irrational requests The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday strongly condemned the Chinese government for meddling with US officials’ interactions with Taiwan after FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed China’s efforts to discourage US officials from visiting Taiwan. The greatest long-term threat to the US’ information security and intellectual property, as well as its economic vitality, is China’s counterintelligence and economic espionage operations, Wray told a video event at the Hudson Institute in Washington. Beijing is engaged in a highly sophisticated and maligning foreign influence campaign, with methods that include bribery, blackmail and covert deals, he said. Giving an example, Wray said that when a US official
CAUTION: Taiwan had zero cases of death from food poisoning for six years until last year, when two people died after eating wildlife, an FDA official said The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday urged the public not to eat wildlife or unidentified wild plants, as they could be fatal, with nearly 7,000 people affected by food poisoning last year, including two deaths due to wildlife consumption. The number of food poisoning incidents increased by nearly 50 percent last year, from 398 cases involving 4,616 people in the previous year to 503 cases involving 6,944 people, FDA data showed. That figure was the second-highest in history, the FDA said, adding that the highest number was recorded in 1997, with 7,235 people. Among the 503 cases, 87 were food poisoning clusters
RSS