TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Presidential hopeful Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) likened Taiwan’s troubles with China to a patient suffering from terminal cancer in an interview with Politico published on Thursday (May 11).

When asked for clarification on the remarks, a spokesperson for the Ko campaign said the comments did not have any particular meaning. The comments were made during an interview with Politico’s China Watcher, in which Ko spoke on a range of topics including the presidency, the U.S., cross-strait relations, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平).

Ko conjured the allegory of a person suffering from terminal cancer when asked how he would negotiate with Beijing, given Xi's uncompromising stance on unifying Taiwan with China.

“I’m always joking — If you have terminal cancer and you’re given two choices and you can survive for 100 months or survive for 50 months, which one will you choose? Of course, 100 months,” Ko said.

Ko also said the issue of cross-strait ties will not be resolved quickly, and that Taiwan must first focus on survival. Ko also offered another analogy on the topic of cross-strait relations, this time with the crusades. “It’s been more than 700 years and you cannot solve the problem between Muslims and Christians,” he said.

“We often delude ourselves into thinking that a problem can be solved in a year or two. Many issues need 300 years to reach a resolution. We must survive through this period safely and happily,” said Ko.

When Taiwan News sought clarification with Ko’s office over the comments, the campaign said that Ko did not mean to compare China with cancer, or unification with death. They insisted that the cancer allegory had “no special meaning,” that his comments meant cross-strait issues would take a long time to solve, and no one knows what the outcome might be.

Ko also walked back previous comments in which he said that both China and Taiwan are one family. “First, ‘both sides of the Strait are one family’ means ‘we are like a family,’ not ‘we are a family,” he said.

Despite having similar culture, history, and languages, Ko said Taiwan and China are too different ideologically to be unified. He added that this was similar to the situation with the U.S. breaking away from England.

Ko said that while in Washington in April, he was told by U.S. officials and lawmakers the U.S. does not support Taiwan independence. He said the U.S. has warned both China and Taiwan that neither side can unilaterally change the status quo, and that China must not use force to resolve cross-strait issues.

Taiwan’s presidential election will be held in January 2024, and so far, only Ko’s Taiwan People’s Party and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have announced candidates. Taiwan Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) was announced as the DPP’s candidate on April 12, and the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) said it will announce its pick on May 17.

Poll data released on April 18 showed Ko’s support at 24.1%, just behind possible KMT candidate Terry Gou (郭台銘), who had 26% of the vote. The frontrunners for the presidency are the DPP’s Lai with 33.4% and New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), widely expected as the KMT nominee, with 29.7% of the vote.