[1/3]Ko Wen-je, chairman and presidential candidate of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), Terry Gou, Foxconn founder and presidential candidate, former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, Hou Yu-ih, presidential candidate of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Eric Chu, chairman the Kuomintang, takes part in a… Acquire license rights Read more
TAIPEI, Nov 24 (Portal) – Taiwan’s opposition parties seeking closer ties with China registered separate presidential candidates on Friday after a dramatic split, potentially making it easier for the ruling party, which has resisted pressure from Beijing, to take power to stay.
The Jan. 13 election comes as China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, is increasing military and political pressure to force the island to accept its sovereignty claims.
The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the much smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), both of which advocate better relations with China, had agreed to work together against the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but made no progress on plans for a joint presidential bid .
China, which has portrayed the election as a choice between “peace and war”, considers the DPP and its presidential candidates to be dangerous separatists and has rejected offers of talks.
Late Thursday, the KMT abandoned final talks with the TPP, held in front of reporters in a hotel conference room and broadcast live on television, after failing to reach an agreement.
The talks were brokered by the billionaire founder of major Apple supplier Foxconn (2317.TW), Terry Gou, who ran as an independent candidate.
In one of the most dramatic moments, KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih read out a private text message from TPP candidate Ko Wen-je in which Ko said Gou “needs to find a reason” to drop out of the presidential campaign.
Hou and Ko both announced their candidates for the candidacy on Friday morning – Hou chose fiery media personality Jaw Shaw-kong, while Ko of the much smaller TPP chose one of its lawmakers, Cynthia Wu, whose family is a major shareholder in conglomerate Shin Kong Group .
Gou, who was widely expected to withdraw from the presidential race after opposition talks collapsed, confirmed he did so just three hours before the deadline To his candidacy with the electoral commission.
“STABILITY TO THE TAIWAN STRAIT”
Hou introduced Jaw and promised to “bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and security to Taiwan, which will bring security to the entire world.”
In contrast to the chaos in the opposition camp, the united DPP pressed ahead with its election campaign and registered its presidential and vice-presidential candidates on Tuesday.
Huang Kwei-bo, a professor of diplomacy at National Chengchi University in Taipei and a former deputy secretary-general of the KMT, said the opposition would hope for “favorable changes” such as internal DPP scandals before it could take advantage of election day.
“It will be a tough fight for the two opposition parties,” he told Portal.
The DPP’s Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s vice president, is consistently at the top of the polls.
His campaign team called on the opposition on Friday to “quickly present detailed guidelines” so that the election could “return to normality.”
At a campaign rally late Thursday, Lai discussed his team’s busy schedule, discussing politics with voters and the media and expressing disdain for the opposition’s disunity.
“Should we dare to let these people run the country?” Lai said. “Of course that’s not okay.”
However, he said he was not resting on his laurels despite the opposition’s disunity, mentioning the 11 events he attended that day.
“Is this going to be elected lying down?” Lai added, referring to previous statements by opposition politicians that their failure to reach agreement would ensure Lai’s easy victory.
The Taiwan stock market largely ignored the impact of the ongoing political drama, although travel-related events declined amid fears that relations with China would not improve and Chinese tourists would not return to Taiwan.
The tourism and hospitality sub-index (.THOI) closed down 3.2% on Friday compared to a flat benchmark index (.TWII).
Reporting by Yimou Lee and Sarah Wu; Writing and additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Roger Tung; Edited by Lincoln Feast and Gerry Doyle
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