Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) yesterday denied meeting Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), who is running as an independent for the Greater Kaohsiung mayoral election, in private on Friday and accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of spreading “groundless rumors.”
King’s comments came amid talks in pan-green circles that the KMT might collaborate with Yang and use his support base to undermine the re-election bid of Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the DPP.
DPP Kaohsiung City councilors claimed earlier this week that King had met Yang in private on Friday to discuss cooperation in the run-up to the Nov. 27 election.
Photo:CNA
“I was in Taipei on Friday and couldn’t have been in Kaohsiung at the same time. The KMT will only support the candidate we nominated and I don’t think the DPP will gain support for its candidate by spreading rumors,” King said.
King is visiting Kaohsiung today to campaign for KMT candidate Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順).
Calling the allegations “nonsense,” Yang said he had never met King or contacted senior KMT officials about the election.
The DPP, denying that it had started the rumors, said that if that was true, it would have spread rumors about Huang rather than Yang.
King should use his “common sense” before making accusations, DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) said.
Wu said that if the opposition party “really wanted to pull a [stunt] like this, we would have done it the other way around.”
It clearly shows that the KMT “doesn’t know what they’re [talking about],” Wu added.
With both Yang and Huang in the race, Wu said that there was a good chance that the KMT vote would be divided, adding that there was “no need” to use any election tactics because Chen already has the upper-hand -according to voters’ surveys.
“Basically we don’t have to do this in Kaohsiung because there is no need,” he said.
The only chance that the DPP might lose the Greater Kaohsiung election next month is if a “comet hit the earth,” he said.
Meanwhile, Yang yesterday invited People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to attend the inauguration of his campaign headquarters on Sunday.
Asked about the invitation. Soong declined to say whether he would attend.
While Soong refused to say whether he would support Huang, PFP-turned-KMT legislators dismissed the possibility that Soong would support Yang.
KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said she had never heard of the matter.
KMT Legislator Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和) said the PFP chairman never mentioned the matter when he traveled to Kaohsiung to stomp for the PFP’s candidates for city councilors.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
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