TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — On Thursday (Jan. 11), Taiwan presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) responded to former president Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) controversial statement that Taiwan “needs to trust Xi Jinping (習近平)” in cross-strait negotiations.
Ko said that he supports increased communication between Taipei and Beijing, but countered Ma’s assertion by saying that “trusting others (China) from the start is too dangerous,” reported NOW News. Rather than blind trust in others, Ko said that one must first trust oneself to ensure one is a party worthy of trust from others.
In his response, Ko said he supports ensuring Taiwan’s military preparedness and said that defense spending should be 3% of the nation's GDP. He also said that when it comes to cross-strait affairs, China coordinates its actions domestically, suggesting that trusting Xi would be of little significance.
Ko clarified his party’s position on cross-strait relations by saying that he supports “Taiwan’s autonomy” and “cross-strait peace,” in that order. “The order must be correct,” he said, per UDN.
Ma made the controversial remark about trusting Xi in an interview with Deutsche Welle that was uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday (Jan. 10) under the title “We ‘can never win’ in a war.” As a result of the interview, KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) quickly sought to distance himself from Ma, with only days before the presidential election.
On Thursday, Hou said that he has different views than Ma and will not approach the issue of unification if he is elected president. The KMT also decided that the former president would not be invited to the final campaign rally ahead of Saturday’s vote.
DPP presidential candidate Lai Ching-te (賴清德) took the opportunity to warn voters about the dangers of the former president's trust in Xi, and the risks that electing the KMT to power may bring to Taiwan.
