Vice President William Lai (賴清德) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) yesterday exchanged views on cross-strait peace at a religious festival in Kinmen County in their first joint public appearance.
Lai, the Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate, and Gou, a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hopeful, traveled to Kinmen to attend the Cheng Huang Festival, the county’s largest religious event.
It was Gou’s first major public appearance since losing the KMT’s nomination for presidential candidate to New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), who did not attend the event.
Photo: CNA
Lai praised the festival, now in its 343rd year and featuring the world’s longest “centipede seat” (蜈蚣座), a type of palanquin on which children dressed as Taoist deities are carried.
The event allows not only Taiwan to see Kinmen, but for the world to see Taiwan, he said outside the Wudao Cheng Huang Temple in Jincheng Township (金城).
He also thanked the county’s military personnel for being the nation’s front line of defense.
Photo: Wu Cheng-Ting, Taipei Times
Gou and Lai met outside the temple, where they shook hands surrounded by reporters.
Saying he had a “small suggestion,” Gou handed Lai a folder with a proposal for a “Kinmen peace declaration.”
The men then spoke for nearly two minutes before taking questions from reporters.
Lai said he is a “pacifist and a vanguard for democracy” who knows that peace is priceless and there are never winners in war.
However, “peace is not something you can choose,” he said.
“If you want to pursue peace, you must pursue ‘real peace,’” meaning the strength and resolve to defend oneself, Lai said.
Gou said that although he agrees that “peace must be won,” he urged Lai to carefully consider his declaration.
If the two sides of the Taiwan Strait do not communicate and Kinmen is not treated as a bridge between them, then “peace will never be possible,” Gou said.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) also visited Kinmen to participate in the festival, arriving after Gou and Lai.
Ko and Gou posed for a photograph together at the temple before meeting again later in the afternoon. The two also joined in carrying the “centipede seat.”
After Gou lost the KMT nomination, there have been rumors whether he would be Ko’s running mate on the TPP ticket.
KMT Kinmen County Council Speaker Hung Yun-tien (洪允典) yesterday said he supported the idea, adding that they were the “best pairing.”
KMT Legislator Jessica Chen (陳玉珍), who represents Kinmen, said she was “thrilled” to see the presidential hopefuls showing such concern for the county.
Asked whether she would push for a Ko-Gou ticket, Chen said that she has heard a lot of support for the idea, but it depends on whether they are willing.
Former TPP legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) in February said the party would welcome Gou and treat him well if he decided to join.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as