Ko Wen-je says he was never opposed to Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement

Ko Wen-je says he was never opposed to Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement

2023-06-27

Presidential hopeful Ko Wen-je has ignited a firestorm, by saying he will restart talks with China over the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement. The controversial treaty was never ratified, after sparking a wave of protests known as the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement. Ko says he was never opposed to the treaty itself, only to the secretive negotiations that brokered it. His remarks have drawn anger from local politicians, who accuse him of changing his tune to win votes.

Miao Poya
Taipei City councilor (Social Democratic Party)
I’ll have to apologize to him for misunderstanding him all this time. It turns out that Ko Wen-je is not opposed to the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement after all. If he is elected president, he will push for it again. Years ago he rode on the wave of opposition to the treaty, going from a doctor to a mayor – we should regard this as a beautiful historical misunderstanding.

Presidential hopeful Ko Wen-je said he intends to revive the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement. He said that his past opposition to the treaty was not because of the treaty itself, but because of its black-box negotiations. Wu Cheng, who protested against the treaty in the Sunflower Student Movement, confronted Ko over his stance.

Wu Cheng
New Taipei City legislative candidate (DPP)
Back in 2014, and even earlier in 2013, Ko Wen-je didn’t put it quite like that. He compared it to tightening a screw, saying that once the screws were attached, they would only get tighter and tighter. Ko Wen-je emphasized that once the agreement was signed, Taiwan’s top-tier medical talent would go to China, and low-end medical talent would see their salaries go down in Taiwan. So why has Ko Wen-je changed his position?

Ko previously testified at public hearings in his capacity as a doctor. He spoke about the treaty’s adverse impact, in remarks that have come back to haunt him. On social media, New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih criticized supporters of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, urging the people of Taiwan to reject such candidates.

Chiu Hsien-chih
New Power Party lawmaker
It wasn’t just the black-box negotiations that drove 500,000 people out onto the streets. The train of thought was quite clear. The problem was the China factor. Don’t distort the protest movement just because you need to bring in deep-blue votes.

Hung Sun-han
DPP lawmaker
Ko Wen-je, quit playing dumb. The true goal of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement was unification. Now that China’s economy is on the decline and its unemployment rate is soaring high, the only reason I can think of is that Chairman Ko wants to win Beijing’s support in order to poach voters from the blue camp.

Concerns are mounting that the treaty will return and become a tool for the CCP’s unification campaign. Politicians from across party lines are speaking out against Ko, urging him not to court China for the sake of the election.