Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has not reached a deal with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to collaborate in the presidential and legislative elections, a TPP spokeswoman said yesterday.
The Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine earlier yesterday reported that the two parties had set timetables together.
The schedule had them unveiling their plans for the legislative elections this month and the presidential election next month, the magazine reported.
Photo: CNA
However, Ko’s campaign office on Tuesday denied the report.
“The report is pure fabrication,” Vicky Chen (陳智菡), a spokeswoman for Ko’s campaign office, told reporters. “We have no timetable for a TPP-KMT collaboration, much less a so-called ‘two-step integration.’”
“Ko’s office has its own plans and pacing, and Ko Wen-je will campaign resolutely until the end as the TPP’s candidate,” Chen said.
The office would start introducing Ko’s campaign platform this month, beginning with healthcare and long-term care policies, which would be unveiled today, she said.
While it did not elaborate on what it meant by “collaborating,” the report hinted that Ko was to be the running mate of New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the KMT’s presidential candidate.
The magazine referenced Ko’s comments at a campaign event in Taoyuan on Saturday.
“Naturally, political leaders can chat among themselves” as long as the discussion is not premised on “distribution of power and positions,” Ko said when asked by a reporter to comment on remarks by Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) of the KMT that a deal between Hou and Ko would be settled this month.
“Politicians don’t create the waves, they are propelled by them. Oftentimes, it’s the people that make decisions for us,” Ko said at the time.
The report also cited KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) as saying that talks with the TPP on a possible collaboration were “making progress and delivering results every day.”
The “collaboration” was made because Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), who on Monday last week announced his presidential bid as an independent candidate, had tried to strongarm the KMT into “yielding to him,” which motivated the party to “distance itself from Gou and instead approach Ko,” Mirror Media reported, citing an unnamed KMT Central Standing Committee member.
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