TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chair Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Friday (Oct. 27) brushed aside questions about the alleged presence of a woman from China on the party’s list of legislative candidates.

In addition to a new president and vice president, Taiwanese voters will also choose all members of the Legislative Yuan on Jan. 13, 2024. Voters elect 34 of the 113 legislators by casting a ballot for a list of candidates submitted by a political party.

According to media reports, the TPP was considering the nomination of Xu Chunying (徐春鶯), the chair of an association of foreign spouses, on its list. Critics and media reports questioned whether Xu had served as a cadre for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), though she denied the allegations, Mirror Media reported.

Asked about the issue, Ko said that if you included spouses and children, more than 1 million Taiwan residents had links to Chinese spouses. Such a sizeable part of society had a right to be represented, and should not be treated like enemies right from the start, he said.

The presidential candidate estimated the number of Chinese spouses in Taiwan as between 360,000 and 380,000, per CNA. If one added their Taiwanese spouses and children, the number should be multiplied by at least three, reaching about 1 million, he said.

Ko named tolerance and inclusiveness as part of his political program. Anyone who lived in Taiwan should be treated as a Taiwanese, he said, even if they did not have the right to vote.

Xu denied she had ever joined the CCP. She admitted traveling to China to take part in conferences, but she said she had only expressed the views of Chinese spouses living in Taiwan, according to Mirror Media.