The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) last night held a large-scale campaign event in Taipei, touting the party’s unity with appearances by party heavyweights including former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former Kaoshiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) stumping for the KMT’s presidential and legislative candidates.
Aside from KMT presidential candidate New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and vice presidential candidate Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), 14 KMT mayors and county commissioners also took the stage with speeches calling for support.
The rally, held in front of the Presidential Office Building, had a turnout of more than 60,000 people, the party said.
Photo: I-hwa Cheng, AFP
The nation, under the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) governance in the past eight years, had stalled development in its regional trade and economic status, as well as tense cross-strait relations, Hou said.
People’s expectation for a transfer of power “has reached a fervent point,” Hou said.
He called for support saying the presidential election next month would be a choice between war and peace, and between clean governance and a corrupt government.
Earlier yesterday, Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) said that the government has no plans to bring in as many as 100,000 migrant workers from India to Taiwan, in an apparent reference to comments by Hou on Wednesday.
Taipei had not signed an MOU with New Delhi to bring in migrant workers, and the issue was subject to continued evaluation regarding employment cooperation, Hsu said in a press release.
Any claims about Taiwan seeking to open its doors to 100,000 Indian workers are “fake” and made by “ill-intentioned people” to manipulate public opinion for electoral gain, she said.
Hsu’s statement came after Hou incorrectly cited Bloomberg News as reporting that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) had already been signed to bring in Indian migrant workers.
Hou’s assertion, made during a televised policy presentation forum, was likely a reference to a Nov. 10 Bloomberg report regarding a prospective MOU between Taiwan and India. While the report did state that plans were in the works for an “employment mobility agreement,” it did not claim an MOU had already been signed.
Citing “senior officials familiar with the matter,” the report said that an agreement to bring “as many as 100,000” Indian migrant workers to Taiwan could be signed as early as this month.
Later yesterday, Hou’s campaign office issued a statement saying that Hsu herself had said last month that Taiwan and India were set to sign an MOU by the end of the year to bring in migrant workers.
Given that there are only nine days left before the end of the year, Hsu should clarify when the MOU would be signed, and how many Indian workers would move to Taiwan according to the pact, Hou’s office said.
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