Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that he is “not exactly pro-China,” adding that Taiwan’s best strategy is to remain neutral in the power struggle between the US and China.
Ko was responding to requests for comment on New Power Party (NPP) Chairman Chiu Hsien-chih’s (邱顯智) remark that his party does not support Ko’s mantra that there is “one family on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.”
Through his visits to the US, Japan and China, Ko said he has realized that Taiwan can communicate, cooperate and be accepted by all three nations.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Taiwan is small, so it would be difficult for it to outdo large nations, he said, adding that Taiwan could take inspiration from Singapore or Japan, which are also caught between the US and China.
Taiwan is between Singapore and Japan in terms of size, so it should observe how they act before deciding its next move, he said.
Based on this premise, the discourse favored by the pan-green and pan-blue camps to only bet on the US and China is “extreme” and thus not ideal, he said.
On the difference between “befriending China (友中)” and “pro-China (親中),” Ko said that the former just means “you have to wear a smile,” but he does not know about the dealings of people who are “pro-China.”
“If someone opposes the Chinese Communist Party, they do not have to oppose China, and even if someone opposes China, they do not have to verbally attack China,” Ko said. “Why bicker? Do what you should do and prepare for what you should prepare for. Talking tough every day is pointless.”
In other news, NPP Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal yesterday rejected rumors that she would “jump ship” to be named a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator-at-large.
Kawlo said that she had not been approached by the DPP and condemned her NPP colleagues for spreading unfounded information.
She said that she maintains her original goal of “ensuring Aboriginal rights are exercised and challenging old politics,” and would continue to work to bring about a sustainable ecosystem, pursue Aboriginal land justice and change the culture of politics.
Additional reporting by Huang Hsin-po
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