[Patrickov]

https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202301010007

Ex-President Ma: 2024 vote a choice of war or peace

Taipei, Jan. 1 (CNA) Former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the main opposition Kuomintang described the 2024 presidential and legislative elections as offering a choice between war and peace on Sunday, saying "vote for the KMT, and there will be no battlefield across the Taiwan Strait."

Speaking at a flag-raising ceremony hosted by the KMT at its headquarters, Ma said the "resist China, protect Taiwan" policy promoted by the Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration over the past six years had caused unprecedented cross-strait tensions.

The ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) cross-strait policy is a major mistake by the party because it is out of tune with public opinion and has lost public support, said Ma.

In response to the government's announcement that the compulsory male-only military service period will be restored to one year from the current four months, Ma indicated that he had always believed that the national security strategy of the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan’s official name, should be to prepare for war, avoid war, and seek peace.

The ROC should not only prepare for war but also avoid war, he said, adding that avoiding war means not being provocative on one hand, while on the other hand, Taiwan should open up the mini-three links as soon as possible to ensure the safety of the country and the well-being of its people.

"Vote for the DPP, youth go to the battlefield. Vote for the Kuomintang, there will be no battlefield on both sides of the strait," Ma, who served as ROC president from 2008-2016, said.

The mini-three links refer to direct trade, postal, and transport services launched on Jan. 1, 2001 between Kinmen and Matsu in Taiwan and Xiamen, Mawei, and Quanzhou in China's Fujian Province, which were suspended in February 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ma also credited KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) for his leadership role in the party's resounding victory in the recent local government elections, in which the KMT won 14 out of the 22 city and county leadership posts up for grabs.

With the morale within the KMT boosted, Ma said the party should work together to do well in the Taipei and Nantou legislative by-elections later this month and March, respectively, as well as the presidential and legislative elections next year.

When addressing the ceremony, Chu said that the KMT would strive to win the legislative by-elections and would work together to put up the strongest candidates for the 2024 elections.

The KMT must walk the right path and select the right people to run in the 2024 elections and must be selfless and united to achieve the goal, Chu added.

Meanwhile, DPP members have said the KMT’s recent rhetoric to link the DPP’s cross strait policy to war has been irresponsible.

The challenge to Taiwan's security and national defense is not caused by the DPP, Kuomintang, or Taiwan People's Party, but the Chinese Communist Party, which has not given up unifying Taiwan by force, the DPP candidate for the upcoming legislative by-election in Taipei Enoch Wu (吳怡農) said recently.

He said ensuring peace across the Taiwan Strait should be a non-partisan goal.

(By Wang Cheng-chung and Evelyn Kao)

Enditem/HY

Taiwan has only two choices: War and survive, or surrender and die.

This traitor is effectively asking for surrender.

Admin Edit: Rule 1 Violation

[Patrickov]

Mod, please change the title of the post to at least denote Ma a traitor.

This post is pointless if it doesn't bring to attention that Taiwan has a traitor ex-president worse than what Trump is as those opposing him perceive.

[noemon]

1) You should have thought about that before violating Rule 1.
2) If this title is good enough for the Taiwanese paper, it is also good enough for PoFo.

[Patrickov]

1) You should have thought about that before violating Rule 1.

Frankly I didn't see the claim that severe (as I am incapable to carry that out myself), but since you are the authority here and you didn't state this publicly before, I chose to keep slient and do my best to comply with the rule when I posted my first follow-up.

[noemon]

You have received several warnings for your death threats and Rule 1 violations so claiming to be unaware of this is a bare-faced lie that has just cost you a week-long ban.

PoFo is not interested on whether you are able to carry out your death threats, you should be able to understand that threatening physical harm to people is illegal and that engaging in this ridiculous behavior not only achieves nothing for your cause(quite the opposite actually) but more importantly it undermines PoFo itself.

Next time you call for the death of anyone, you will be permabanned. Final warning.