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.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
RSS