Facing a lawsuit by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) over comments that he was placed on the party’s legislator-at-large list for January’s elections as if by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that he was just being honest.
Chiu was eighth on the list when it was announced on Nov. 13, but he withdrew following criticism that the candidates included some with controversial views regarding China.
The New Party on Thursday announced its legislator-at-large list, with Chiu atop it.
Photo: CNA
Ko on Friday told reporters that the New Party’s list “looked like it has been nominated by the CCP,” and that Chiu’s “nomination by the KMT and the New Party means that China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has pretty good control over them.”
Chiu and New Party members yesterday filed a lawsuit at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, accusing Ko of defamation and breach of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選罷法).
Ko yesterday said that “the deep-blue camp calls me the pan-green camp, the deep-green camp calls me the pan-blue camp, but actually we just want to remain in the middle, because with the US-China economic conflict and tense cross-strait relations, staying on the middle path will bring the maximum benefit to Taiwan.”
Ko said he was surprised that the KMT did not change its list after its revisions were criticized.
This made him ask what force was behind the list, he said.
“It is even more interesting with Chiu, who was first nominated by the KMT and later by the New Party, so it is easy to guess who is the boss behind both,” Ko said.
“Sometimes, I am the only one to say what everyone thinks; I am audacious in that way, that’s all,” he said. “I was just being honest.”
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