《TAIPEI TIMES》 Candidates clash over cross-strait peace and youth

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

The nation’s three presidential candidates yesterday clashed at the first platform presentation organized by the Central Election Commission, with each vowing to secure cross-strait peace and take better care of young people.

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New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi （侯友宜）, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s （KMT） presidential candidate, was first to speak and wasted no time in criticizing Vice President William Lai （賴清德）, the Democratic Progressive Party’s （DPP） candidate.

Hou said that he would resume operations at the Special Prosecutors’ Division to investigate allegtions of corruption reported over the past seven years.

Hou vowed to uphold the Republic of China Constitution and oppose the independence of Taiwan and China’s “one country, two systems” policy.

He said that Lai has never given up being an independence activist.

He dared Lai to permanently abandon the DPP’s Taiwanese independence guidelines.

“Lai pledged to build 130,000 public housing units in eight years, but I think that check is surely going to bounce, because he built none during his two terms as Tainan mayor,” Hou said, adding that he would provide housing loans to young people to build families.

Lai criticized Hou and Taiwan People’s Party （TPP） Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je （柯文哲）, saying that neither is fit to protect Taiwan.

“Mayor Hou, you said that you want to protect the Republic of China, but you also accept the so-called ‘1992 consensus,’ about which Chinese President Xi Jinping （習近平） has said is built on the ‘one China’ principle,” Lai said. “That would leave Taiwanese with no say over their future.”

The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi （蘇起） in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.

“Chairman Ko, you said that the KMT cannot be trusted because it would quickly lean toward China if it takes office, but the KMT said that you would move much closer to China than it would,” Lai said. “In my opinion, you two are both ‘the pot calling kettle black.’”

Apart from saying that he would spend 3 percent of GDP on national defense, Ko spent the majority of his time addressing domestic issues.

He vowed to restore fiscal responsibility by abandoning special budgets.

“The KMT says that it wants to provide housing loans to young people, while the DPP says it wants to build more public housing and give people more years to pay back loans,” he said.

“I say that the key problem is high housing prices,” Ko said, adding that he would apply his experience in pursuing residential justice as Taipei mayor if elected president.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES