Kuomintang Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Ke Zhien pointed out at a public political meeting today (14th) that his opponent Lai Ruilong had participated in the Straits Forum, and asked, "You have participated in the Straits Forum, have you been united?" In this regard, Lai Ruilong emphasized in an interview after the meeting that not Let’s talk about the situation 20 or 30 years ago. The situation now is completely different from that then. He criticized the Kuomintang and Ke Zhien. “Don’t just raise your national flag in Taiwan. Can you go to China, Hong Kong, and Macau to raise the national flag of the Republic of China?”
At a public political meeting this afternoon, Ko Chi-en secretly criticized Lai Ruilong for "going to the mainland is a very pleasant experience." He accused Lai Ruilong of holding high the fight against China and safeguarding Taiwan. He said that the county magistrate (Taitung County Magistrate Rao Qingling) who participated in the "Straits Forum" via video conference was a united front, but he had participated in the "Straits Forum". He asked Lai "You have participated in the Straits Forum, have you been united front?" Questioning Lai Ruilong is a double standard.
After the public political meeting, the media asked Lai Ruilong, "Ke Zhien just mentioned at the political meeting that you have long held high the banner of resisting China and supporting Taiwan, but the paper seems to have mentioned the pleasant experience of visiting China. Is the standard different?"
Lai Ruilong responded that whether he was a graduate student or when he was the chief secretary of the Kaohsiung City Tourism Bureau, he always wanted to communicate with dignity and equality, and he was working hard in this direction at that time. For him, both Kaohsiung and Taiwan hope to communicate with the world on the basis of equality and dignity. "But everyone knows the current situation. Is there dignity and equality?" This is a question that many KMT legislators and senior KMT officials should face.
Lai said, have the current conditions of Kaohsiung and Taiwan been respected? Has the Republic of China in Taiwan been respected? "Ke Zhien, please open your eyes and see. Can you now say the four words "Republic of China" in front of China? Your national flag should not just be raised in Taiwan. Can you go to China, Hong Kong, and Macau to raise the national flag of the Republic of China?"
He further said that when Chinese military planes and warships continue to circle Taiwan, threatening and even intimidating Taiwan, where do you stand? Even when we have to spend more military procurement budget to protect ourselves, and hope to have more drones and unmanned boats to protect ourselves, whose position are you on? "All Taiwan knows that this is what we want to protect ourselves. We are not trying to attack others, we want to protect ourselves. As a result, the Kuomintang cooperated with the CCP to delete these budgets." Even the United States and the whole world wonder why Taiwan is unwilling to spend money to protect itself? That's our biggest problem.
Lai Ruilong criticized that if the Kuomintang and Ke Zhien continue to follow Cheng Lai-wen's urgent reunification route, no one will believe that Taiwan can unify China. "The route of the radical reunification is that Taiwan will be eliminated and the Republic of China will be eliminated." He believes that this is the status quo and a fact. Don't talk about the current situation based on a paper written 30 years ago or when he was the chief secretary of the Tourism Bureau 20 years ago. "The situation now is completely different from that then." We should acknowledge this fact and not use the past to cover up the fact that we are hurting Taiwan now, and then putting Taiwan under greater threat.
