Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday touted the “success” of the party’s presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi’s (侯友宜) trip to the US, while some green-camp figures accused Hou of deceiving the US public by diverging from KMT views on China and the US.
At a KMT Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday, Chu said that Hou’s visit has been “very successful” so far, as Hou visited New York, New Jersey and Washington, before a final stop in San Francisco.
Chu also referred to US academics and experts praising Hou’s “good” preparation and talking points, as well as “fruitful dialogue” during his meetings.
Photo: Wong Yu-huang, Taipei Times
“We also want thank many of our good US friends, the overseas Chinese community, and the official KMT office and local representatives in the US for assisting the arrangement of Hou’s visit,” Chu said. “We have seen the enthusiastic reception for Hou, showing that the overseas community is rallying together, to have the ‘power of unity’ back again to support the KMT.”
Hou has met with US politicians and opinion leaders, and held talks with Washington-based think tanks, where he presented the KMT’s “3Ds” strategy of “deterrence, dialogue and de-escalation” for safeguarding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, as the party’s main policy for dealing with China.
“This ‘3Ds strategy’ is the Taiwan public’s collective wisdom and has received a high level of endorsement and support in the US,” Chu said. “To reduce tensions in the region, to uphold stability in cross-strait relations and to maintain peace, the best way is the KMT returning to power as the ruling party [in Taiwan].”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Chang Chih-hao (張志豪) and DPP International Affairs Department head Vincent Chao (趙怡翔) accused Hou and KMT officials of trying to “deceive” people in Taiwan and the US by presenting contradictory stances on China and the US.
The KMT has always played “a deception game” by saying one thing and doing the complete opposite, Chao said. “Now Hou, during his trip for talks with US lawmakers, is saying that the KMT stands together with the US as friends, but in Taiwan, Hou and the KMT have a pro-China stance, with an aim to do business and collaborate with China, and to negotiate a new cross-strait service trade agreement with it.”
“While Hou, during his speech in the US, spoke of the KMT supporting the enhancement of Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, boosting the armed forces with more weapons procurement and cooperation with an alliance of democratic countries, the KMT has for many years ignored the need to invest in national defense and the indigenous production of military equipment, and neglected the government’s request to have strong deterrence against the Chinese threat,” Chao said.
Chao also said that KMT Deputy Chairman Sean Lien (連勝文) disparages the military by criticizing the government for spending large sums of money to purchase military equipment from the US.
KMT legislators have for many years boycotted arms procurement request programs, and voted against military training and cooperation projects between Taiwan and the US, he added.
While Hou is in the US, he stresses the importance of the Taiwan-US friendship, but his party has for a long time been suggesting that the US cannot be trusted, Chang said.
Separately, DPP Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) criticized Hou’s talk of the “3Ds” as an “empty slogan,” stating that mentioning deterrence is “useless” without a robust national defense.
“For the deterrence rhetoric, without the military might to back it up, it is just ‘paper tiger’ talk,” Tsai said.
DPP Legislator Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said that Hou differs from former KMT leaders, who always included “defense” among their main points when visiting the US, by ignoring it.
“International experts always stress Taiwan’s national defense when speaking on China and regional security,” Liu said. “Hou is the KMT’s nominee, but he ignores this most important ‘D’ [defense], which indicates a lack of vision for someone in the presidential race.”
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