Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that his discourse on cross-strait relations has always been clear and his statement that “the two sides of the [Taiwan] Strait are one family” remains his fundamental stance.
Wu Tsu-chia (吳子嘉), a commentator who runs news Web site my-formosa.com, on Saturday said that Ko’s discourse on cross-strait relations has been vacillating and lacks a “fundamental spirit.”
When asked by reporters to comment on Wu’s remarks, Ko said: “My attitude toward cross-strait relations is very certain.”
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Many have criticized him for meeting with politicians from different camps, and he used to wonder why, but he has now reached an answer, Ko said.
“I worked at intensive care units and emergency rooms as a doctor, and doctors have a trait: We never get to choose our patients,” Ko said. “We cannot ask patients to come in only if they are affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] or Democratic Progressive Party.”
He has no difficulty speaking with politicians from the pan-blue or the pan-green camps, Ko said, adding that having “practical dialogues” is his specialty, because his experience as a surgeon has made him practical and willing to listen to different opinions.
“The statement that ‘the two sides of the [Taiwan] Strait are one family’ is still a fundamental element [of my cross-strait discourse] for the time being. It does not pertain to politics, but rather to cultural and economic exchanges, as well as exchanges between private actors and between cities,” he said.
“The nation’s future cannot rely on others’ friendliness toward us, so economic capability and national defense must be bolstered while expressing our friendliness,” Ko said.
“I do not advocate the two sides of the Strait talking tough to each other and causing relations to become more tense, which is what we see now and I do not think that is a good situation,” he added.
Separately yesterday, Ko presented two new spokespeople for his campaign office for the Nov. 24 nine-in-one local elections.
Tsai Chun-wei (蔡峻維) and Yang Sheng (楊笙) are both in their 20s and were chosen through an open audition, Ko said.
Tsai and Yang are to first work as interns alongside office spokesman Lin Hsiao-chi (林筱淇) and Taipei Mayoral Office spokesman Lin Kun-feng (林昆鋒), who is to leave his post and join the campaign team as head spokesman next month, the office said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS