TAIPEI (TVBS News) — In a critique of his political rivals on Monday (Dec. 18), Taiwan People's Party (TPP) presidential candidate Ko Wen-je slammed the housing loan policies for young people proposed by Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Hou Yu-ih and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lai Ching-te, stating that their focuses were misplaced.
Ko mocked Hou's no-down-payment plan as a deferred payment scheme and questioned Lai's policy of extending the maximum loan period from 30 to 40 years, without addressing the issues head-on.
Additionally, Ko dismissed implications made by Lai regarding corruption issues. Lai previously claimed that during his tenure as Tainan mayor, he faced fewer scandals compared to Ko's and Hou's careers. In response to the claim, Ko countered with a litany of DPP corruption cases.
Ko also took a dig at Lai over an illegal structure in his Wanli District hometown, which remains unremoved and has somehow turned into a popular check-in spot on the internet.
Previously, Ko mentioned following the path of President Tsai Ing-wen, which garnered Tsai's sarcastic retort that her path represented stability, in contrast to his inconsistency.
In response, Ko retorted, "While I acknowledge Tsai's success in maintaining strong Taiwan-U.S. relations, with the U.S. quite satisfied, I disagree with her domestic policies on cross-strait relations."
In a symbolic shift, Ko was recently spotted replacing his original KP pin with the flag of the Republic of China, a move interpreted as courting the deep-blue vote.
Ko casually responded, "I just happened to receive a batch of the national flag pins and put one on. There's no particular intent; Taiwan isn't owned by the DPP, and the national flag isn't the exclusive symbol of the KMT."