The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday declined to retaliate against former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) criticism, as the two parties continue to eye cooperation ahead of the local elections in November.
At a TPP event on Sunday, Ko called KMT Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) decision to provide free school lunches to all elementary and junior-high school students, rather than only those who have financial needs, “populist governance.”
Ko also dismissed the city’s free milk for students program under Chiang — who succeeded him as Taipei mayor in 2022 — as a useful way to deceive voters, saying it had no real significance.
Photo: Screengrab from BCC News Radio’s YouTube channel
The Democratic Progressive Party’s failure last summer to recall 31 KMT lawmakers and one TPP mayor was partly due to public anger over his indictment and pretrial detention in a corruption case, Ko said.
The 32-0 result was because many people “voted to save A-bei (阿北),” he said, using his nickname.
Without the recall defeat, he would likely still be locked in the Tucheng Detention Center, he added.
However, despite their win, the KMT should not overestimate its own power, Ko said.
Asked about Ko’s statements, KMT Deputy Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said in a radio interview that Ko is “straightforward and outspoken” by nature, which sometimes rubs people the wrong way.
Nevertheless, it is true that without the support of TPP voters, “the KMT would not have made it through the recall,” Hsiao said, adding that people should not “react emotionally” to what Ko said.
“Ko was giving a friendly reminder and also stating a fact: The KMT’s inability to win the 2024 presidential election was also largely due to the lack of blue-white [KMT-TPP] cooperation,” Hsiao said.
Meanwhile, Chiang said his free school lunch policy would ease the burden on working families, adding that Ko “has many opinions on many issues.”
Ko’s comments came on the same day the TPP released its policy platform for the this year’s local elections on Nov. 28.
TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) had said a joint agenda with the KMT has been largely drafted and is awaiting the KMT’s ratification.
The two opposition parties, which jointly hold a majority of seats in the Legislative Yuan, announced in November last year that they would seek to collaborate on policies, candidates and strategies to maximize their chances in the local elections.
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