Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said the KMT would welcome a meeting between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) when asked about yesterday morning’s meeting between Tsai and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).
Tsai met with Soong, saying that the meeting was aimed at soliciting advice from other parties about national affairs and facilitating positive interactions between the future governing party and opposition parties.
Chiang said that changes could be seen every day in politics, which shows that the old saying about the immovability of the traditional “blue and green plates” is not accurate.
“The KMT should pay extra attention to [the shifting political scene], rather than taking voters’ political affiliations for granted, Chiang said.
Multiparty development is good for Taiwan’s democracy, for which cooperation between parties could be a driving force, he said. “The KMT would certainly respect cooperation between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the PFP, if it would be of great advantage to the nation and the people, but we would hope that there is also room for cooperation between the KMT and those parties.”
Chiang said the KMT worked with the PFP in elections for legislative committee conveners that took place last week, “as parties compete and cooperate in different fields and on different issues.”
Chiang said that the KMT would welcome a meeting between Ma and Tsai, adding that he hoped Tsai would keep an open attitude to meeting with opposition party leaders to improve the nation.
When asked about a possible meeting with Ma, Tsai said: “President Ma is about to make a visit [to Latin America]; we will contact him after he returns and arrange a meeting with him at an appropriate time.”
Ma said of the potential event: “We will try to arrange such a meeting.”
Ma is to visit Guatemala and Belize, two of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Central America, from Sunday through Saturday next week.
Separately, New Power Party Secretary-General Chen Hui-min (陳惠敏) said that DPP officials called NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) two days earlier about the possibility of setting up a meeting.
The New Power Party was “open” to such a meeting, but there had not been any discussion over a time or what would be discussed, Chen said.
Additional reporting by Abraham Gerber
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