Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) hope of the cross-strait relationship becoming one of “you and I are deeply in love” (你儂我儂) would not be easily realized.
In an interview published in the Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine on Tuesday, Han said that Ko’s use of “two sides of the Strait are one family” to describe the cross-strait relationship is more “emotional,” but he would rather use the term “you and I are deeply in love,” which comes from the soul.
“I will not deny Ko’s rhetoric of ‘two sides of the Strait are one family,’” Han said, adding that he snickers when he hears people speaking highly of the remark, because he thinks “you and I are deeply in love” expresses an even closer relationship, one that means: “I will hold your hand and grow old with you.”
Photo copied by Chen Wen-chan, Taipei Times
Boasting about himself being “very accurate in perceiving the cross-strait relationship,” he said there are “two undeniables” that are colliding with one another: “Do not doubt the Chinese Communist Party’s determination to recover Taiwan,” and “do not doubt Taiwanese’s determination to pursue democracy and freedom.”
“Many people say ‘first be friends, then get married,’ but if you cannot even reach the first stage, it is hard to tell what comes afterward,” Ko said yesterday.
“It is impossible for the current cross-strait relationship to reach a state of ‘you and I are deeply in love’ just because [Han] suddenly brought up the idea. It is not that simple,” Ko said, adding that both sides should first make a friendly gesture, then slowly share more goodwill through communication and exchanges.
“Taiwan is still a society with split ideologies,” he said, adding that he remembers a remark made by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) about “not satisfactory, but acceptable,” and he has realized that it is difficult to achieve even a level of “acceptable” in real politics.
While Han’s remark has stirred heated debate, he yesterday said that “you and I are deeply in love” is only a metaphor.
He said he wanted to stress that cross-strait relations should be approached from a psychological perspective, adding that pioneers of ideas often face criticism.
Presidential Office spokesperson Xavier Chang (張惇涵) yesterday called on Han to focus on municipal administration and carry out his campaign promises as soon as possible, saying that cross-strait affairs are part of the president’s duty, and that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) performance regarding cross-strait and international affairs has been praised internationally.
Additional Reporting by Wang Rong-hsiang
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS