TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In the only debate of the campaign, the three presidential candidates crossed swords for two and a half hours on Saturday (Dec. 30).
Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) of the Kuomintang (KMT), and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chair Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) went live on TV to present their views, exchange comments with their opponents, and reply to questions from the media.
Just two weeks before election day, the candidates exchanged views about the country’s attitude toward China and the United States, and about allegations of real estate and land scandals.
Lai reminded his audience that Beijing had never accepted the “Republic of China” (ROC), Taiwan’s official name. He also wondered whether maintaining the name would promote peace or cause a disaster for Taiwan. At a news conference after the debate, Lai said he had misspoken because he had meant to talk about the Constitution, not about the name of the country, CNA reported.
The DPP candidate promised that if elected on Jan. 13, he would forge a Taiwanese consensus and take the road of national solidarity, protecting the country and developing the economy, per CNA. He defended the idea of independence as representing that neither Taiwan nor China had jurisdiction over the other, emphasizing that he would promote Indo-Pacific regional peace.
Hou criticized the DPP government for losing nine diplomatic allies and for having Chinese military planes approach Taiwan on an almost daily basis. If DPP foreign policy were a success, the whole world would not be concerned about security in the Taiwan Strait, the KMT candidate said.
Ko called on voters to “take down” the DPP and the KMT so Taiwan could work out of the “mud of ideology.” Taiwan should not be the “most dangerous place in the world” as described by foreign media, but should be a bridge between the United States and China, Ko said. Neither unification nor independence was a choice for Taiwan at present, as 90% of the public supported the status quo, he added.
Reacting to a question from a reporter, the TPP leader also demanded stronger punishment for spies and traitors. The military needed to improve discipline, seeing that many of those willing to collect information for China were serving or retired officers, he said.