Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday said he cannot recall what he said to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) after Ker on Thursday alleged that the political feud in 2013 between Wang and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had been triggered by Wang’s criticism of Ma in a telephone call with Ker that had been wiretapped.
Since Monday, when he set up his Facebook page for the January legislative elections, Ker has been posting what he calls revelations regarding “backroom information on the 318 [Sunflower] movement.”
A post on Thursday was about Wang confronting Ma, which arguably resulted in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) drubbing in the nine-in-one local elections in November last year, Ker said.
Photo: CNA
On June 27, 2013, less than three months before the so-called Ma-Wang feud, party caucuses were involved in negotiations over the cross-strait service trade agreement and the Senior High School Education Act (高級中等教育法), Ker said.
The DPP caucus was urging the KMT caucus to agree to a clause-by-clause reading of the service trade agreement and threatening to withhold the DPP’s compromise on the education bill, Ker said.
The DPP caucus had included a clause in the education bill that would require the withdrawal of military instructors from campuses within eight years, Ker said, adding that he told Wang that Ma might not sign off on it.
“Wang said it was passable, saying: ‘I don’t give a fuck about him; he will not be president forever, so there is no reason we should listen to him on every clause,’” Ker said.
Ker said that he believes it was this phone call, which was wiretapped, that pushed the president to try to get rid of Wang.
“For Ma, this would have been the strongest evidence of under-the-table collusion between me and Wang,” Ker said.
Wang said he has no memory of speaking about Ma in such a fashion.
When asked whether he respects Ma, Wang said he certainly respects Ma, “as he is our head of state.”
Ma and then-premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) held a news conference on Sept. 8, 2013, when Wang was on a trip to Malaysia for his daughter’s wedding, accusing him of influence-peddling in judicial cases.
Upon his return to Taipei on Sept. 10, Wang countered, saying the Special Investigation Division of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office had conducted a one-sided investigation that was illegal and unconstitutional.
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