Chiang Wan-an Defends Rao Ching-ling, Questions Link Between Speaking for Farmers and United Front Tactics

Taipei, June 20 (CNA) Taitung County Magistrate Rao Ching-ling faced repercussions for participating in the Straits Forum via video. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an stated today that he feels compelled to speak up for Rao, questioning how advocating for farmers' livelihoods, without even attending in person, could be considered part of the United Front.

Rao Ching-ling recently participated in the Straits Forum through a pre-recorded video to secure markets for her county's sugar apples. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) subsequently announced that because the Straits Forum is a large-scale United Front platform organized by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the responsible authority, the Ministry of the Interior, would investigate. MAC Deputy Minister and Spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh also stated that Taiwanese people rarely consume sugar apples, and there is almost no domestic market for them, with production largely dependent on CCP procurement, thus completely reliant on Beijing's goodwill.

Speaking to reporters before a photo shoot with KMT Taipei City Councilor candidates today, Chiang Wan-an expressed his fondness for Taitung's sugar apples, calling them the "TSMC of the fruit world" for their delicious and unique quality, unmatched by any other country. He found Liang Wen-chieh's assertion that Taiwanese people don't eat sugar apples to be utterly baffling.

Chiang Wan-an stated he feels compelled to speak up for Rao Ching-ling because sugar apples are a specialty of Taitung and an important agricultural product exported to mainland China. He questioned the connection to the United Front when Rao participated via recorded video at the Straits Forum to secure orders for farmers, emphasizing that she did not attend in person and was speaking for the farmers' livelihoods.

Chiang asserted that this action was not only unproblematic but also a duty of a local leader, making the MAC's investigation into Rao Ching-ling's responsibility completely unacceptable. He believes this disregards the livelihoods of Taiwanese farmers.

He further stated that the MAC also intends to investigate five other agricultural groups that signed agreements at the Straits Forum. "I believe if the MAC intends to use such political suppression tactics to bully and suppress Taiwan's agricultural counties, we will use our votes at the end of the year to tell the MAC and the Democratic Progressive Party that we refuse and will never accept political means harming Taiwanese farmers."

Chiang Wan-an also called on the mainland to establish stable and sustainable institutional practices for importing Taiwanese agricultural products, so that Taiwanese farmers do not become innocent victims. (Editor: Li Hsi-chang) 1150620

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