Seeking opposition unity, KMT brushes off criticism by ex-TPP chair Ko

Taipei, Jan. 19 (CNA) Figures in the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) on Monday declined to return criticism from former Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), as the two parties continue to eye cooperation ahead of the November 2026 elections.

At a TPP event on Sunday, Ko slammed KMT Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) for his decision to provide free school lunches to all elementary and junior high school students, rather than only those who show financial need, calling it "populist governance."

Ko also dismissed the city's free milk for students program under Chiang -- who succeeded him as Taipei mayor in 2022 -- as a useful way of "deceiving voters, with no real significance."

Meanwhile, in remarks aimed at the KMT as a whole, Ko claimed that the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) failure last summer to recall 31 KMT lawmakers and one mayor was due to public anger over his indictment and pre-trial detention for corruption.

The 32-0 result in the recall election was because many people "voted to save A-bei (阿北)," Ko said, using his nickname. Without the recall defeat, he added, he would likely still be locked in the Tucheng Detention Center.

Given those results, "the KMT shouldn't overestimate its own power," Ko said.

Asked about the comments during an radio interview on Monday, Deputy KMT Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said Ko is "straightforward and outspoken" by nature, which sometimes rubs people the wrong way.

Nevertheless, it is true that without support from TPP voters, "the KMT would not have made it through the recall," Hsiao said, adding that people should not "react emotionally" to what Ko said.

"Ko Wen-je was giving a friendly reminder and also stating a fact: that the KMT's inability to win the 2024 presidential election was also largely due to the lack of blue-white [KMT-TPP] cooperation," Hsiao said.

Chiang, meanwhile, said his free school lunch policy would ease the burden on working families, adding that Ko "has many opinions on many issues."

Ko's comments Sunday came on the same day the TPP released its policy platform for the 2026 local elections on Nov. 28. At the platform's unveiling, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said a joint agenda with the KMT has also been largely drafted and is awaiting the KMT's ratification.

The two opposition parties, which jointly hold a majority of seats in the Legislature, announced in November 2025 that they would seek to collaborate on policy, candidates and strategy to maximize their chances in the local elections.

At the time, KMT Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said she agreed with TPP statements that the parties should reach a cooperation agreement by March.

In Taiwan's January 2024 presidential election, a bid to run a joint KMT-TPP ticket featuring the parties' respective nominees, Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) and Ko, fell apart because neither would accept the vice presidential slot. This is widely seen as having cost them the election.

With the opposition divided, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) of the DPP went on to get elected with only 40.05 percent of the votes.