A pledge to defend Taiwan and never surrender has garnered 263 signatures among candidates in Saturday’s local elections, independence advocates said yesterday.
All 21 of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) county commissioner and mayoral candidates signed the pledge, but no candidates from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) signed it, they said.
China’s “hardline” approach to Taiwan has intensified since the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 20th National Congress, at which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) refused to renounce the use of force against Taiwan, World United Formosans for Independence chairman Chen Nan-tien (陳南天) said.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The decision of the DPP mayoral candidates in the six special municipalities to sign the pledge was in stark contrast with the inaction of the KMT and TPP candidates, Chen said, adding that the results “make it clear who is friend, foe and traitor.”
There were 37 signatories among candidates for city council seats in Kaohsiung, 24 in Taipei, 22 in New Taipei City, 11 in Taoyuan, 32 in Taichung and 20 in Tainan, the organizers of the pledge said.
In other city and county councils, 24 Taiwan Statebuilding Party members signed the pledge, while there were 15 from the Taiwan Obasang Political Equality Party and 26 from the DPP’s Taiwan Forward faction, the organizers said.
Two TPP councilor candidates from outside the six special municipalities signed, one in Tainan and one in Kaohsiung, they said.
Freedom of speech allows people to express pro-unification views, but voters should reject such candidates, as Taiwan must resist China’s ambitions to annex the nation, Taiwan New Constitution Foundation deputy director Sung Cheng-en (宋承恩) said.
Taiwanese should harbor no illusions about China, which is the nation’s main adversary, Sung said, adding that the KMT’s absence from the pledge undermines its lip service to defend the Republic of China.
Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) urged voters to reject politicians who might collude with the enemy.
Although the DPP’s mayoral and county commissioner candidates supported the pledge, some of the party’s candidates running for local posts did not sign it, Presbyterian Church in Taiwan representative Lin Wei-lien (林偉聯) said, before asking members of churches represented by his organization to not vote for such candidates.
China has long meddled in Taiwan’s elections and its operatives are waiting to see what will happen on Saturday, Taiwan Statebuilding Party Secretary-General Wang Hsing-huan (王興煥) said.
The local elections will affect the perception of Taiwan internationally and has ramifications for the 2024 presidential election, Wang said.
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