Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that pan-green camp politicians would not be excluded from his coalition government if he is elected.
Ko was responding to an appeal by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate and Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) to renounce all cooperation with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) if he becomes president.
KMT presidential candidate Hou You-yi’s (侯友宜) campaign urged Ko to vow to never form a coalition with the DPP in the Legislative Yuan or appoint its members.
Photo: CNA
“I do not understand this logic behind their excluding everyone else from government as soon as they get power,” Ko told reporters on the sidelines of door-to-door campaign in New Taipei City.
In response to a request to comment on a new KMT ad saying that a vote for Hou is a vote for Ko, he said that “voting for me straight-up will do. There is no need to do it in a roundabout way.”
Regarding former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) comment that Taiwan must trust Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in cross-strait affairs and reduce military spending, Ko said that he supports raising defense-related expenditures to 3 percent of the nation’s GDP.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan must be confident in the strength of its self-defense capabilities and have solid relations with its friends and allies before attempting to enter into dialogue with Beijing, he said.
“Nobody gets into this kind of thing by trusting the other side from the very beginning,” he added.
Separately, DPP spokesman Chang Chih-hao (張志豪) yesterday called a statement from Ko campaign’s policy on indigenous people “arrogant and ignorant,” adding that the candidate has a history of discrimination against women and less-fortunate people.
A report from the independent news outlet wuo-wuo.com cited the Ko campaign as saying the candidate would protect endangered species by “educating indigenous people to change their religion and hunting lifestyle.”
Chang said Ko has shown a lack of respect for indigenous cultures on many occasions and accused indigenous Taiwanese of “whining about nothing” at last year’s Indigenous Youth Forum.
TPP Legislator Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈), Ko’s running mate, was seen smiling and nodding when a supporter complained that there were too many indigenous people in Hualien and that the supporter was scared of them, he said.
“Ko’s consistent arrogance and ignorance revealed that he does not have the temperament and character to be a presidential candidate,” Chang said.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
RSS