Pro-independence civic groups gathered in Kaohsiung yesterday accusing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) of “colluding” with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, after the KMT and TPP on Wednesday agreed to cooperate in the January election.
“The KMT and TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are joining forces to urge voters to oust the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP),” former Taiwan South Society chairman Weng Ming-jang (翁銘章) said.
“However, these two parties are concealing their follow-up statement, which is ‘to help install the CCP to rule in Taiwan,’” he said. “We are seeing very clearly that China is making moves behind the scenes to subvert our democratic election.”
Photo: Hsu Li-chuan, Taipei Times
With the “blue-white” coalition forming, “the presidential contest has become a one-on-one showdown,” Taiwan South Society founder Tseng Kuei-hai (曾貴海) said.
The KMT and the TPP talk about needing to change the government because the DPP has been in power for too long, but President Tsai Ing-wei (蔡英文) has said that many countries around the world still want to work with a DPP government, Tseng said.
Ko compromised with the KMT and would compromise next time with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Kaohsiung City Councilor Chang Po-yang (張博洋) of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party said.
Ko might give many reasons for his actions, but in practical terms, he is selling out his party and his supporters, Chang said, adding that “next time he could sell out the people of Taiwan to China.”
Separately, DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) denounced the opposition coalition as a “dark conspiracy,” as only a few principal figures remained at the negotiation table without their aides on Wednesday.
“Nobody really knows how they came up with the final agreement,” Hung said. “Ko later said that he is conducting an experiment to see if a ‘blue-white cooperation’ could work.”
“This is very frightening. Can Taiwanese bet the nation’s future on such an absurd experiment?” Hung said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ko said that he still “hates” the KMT, despite their agreement.
“I’m in a bad mood,” Ko said at a campaign event. “I hate the KMT, but I hate the DPP even more.”
In a TV interview after, Ko said that concerns about risks of a conflict with China convinced him to make the agreement, adding that “war is not impossible in Taiwan” and that the deal surprised his aides.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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