Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, reportedly purchased a house in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港) for more than NT$70 million (US$2.3 million at the current exchange rate) in 2011, which contradicts his campaign image as an “everyman,” the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said yesterday.
Details of the property purchase were exposed yesterday by the Chinese-language Next Magazine.
Han on Monday uploaded to Facebook a video of himself doing laundry and on Thursday last week he used a public washroom at a Taoyuan gas station, which KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) said demonstrated the mayor’s “charm.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Han’s campaign team are attempting to portray the mayor as an everyday person, media reports have said.
Han should be more responsible in the buildup to the Jan. 11 elections and should avoid causing disruptive class conflict, DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said at a news conference in Taipei.
Kuan was joined by DPP legislators Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘), Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) and Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋).
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) had also commented that the atmosphere surrounding the election was “like a class struggle” when he decided not to run as an independent presidential candidate, Kuan said, adding that Han’s attempt to portray an “everyman” image has been his strategy since he ran for mayor last year, when he ate minced pork rice and drank bottled water while meeting voters.
Wang asked how Han and his wife, Lee Chia-fen (李佳芬), were able to purchase such an expensive home in 2011 when Han was unemployed if the couple were just “everyday people.”
He asked why the couple would sell the property at a loss in 2014, when Han was head of Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corp (台北農產公司), and then do the same when they sold a farmhouse in Yunlin County this year for less than its market value.
The property sales were “very much contrary to common sense,” he said.
The image of the couple as “everyday people” is also contradicted by their ownership of Victoria Academy bilingual school, which has very high tuition fees, Tsai said.
Han’s campaign office spokeswoman Ho Ting-huan (何庭歡) said that Han’s and Lee’s sale of the Nangang property at a loss was due to them having underestimated the financial burden of the property.
The couple were forced to sell to recuperate their losses, she said, adding that “everyday people have the right to buy and sell property.”
Additional reporting by CNA
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS