{"id":347405,"date":"2025-11-01T06:54:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T06:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/347405\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T06:54:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T06:54:46","slug":"incoming-kmt-chair-doubles-down-on-putin-was-elected-remarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/347405\/","title":{"rendered":"Incoming KMT chair doubles down on ‘Putin was elected’ remarks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) chair-elect Cheng Li-wun (\u912d\u9e97\u6587) said on Friday that she hopes Taiwan can “make as many friends as possible,” when asked to elaborate on her recent remarks that “Vladimir Putin is not a dictator” because he was elected, during an interview with Deutsche Welle<\/a> (DW).<\/p>\n

“After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country quickly transitioned to democracy. It has had many years of elections … Putin was elected via a democratic vote. That’s why I was surprised that he was being labeled a dictator,” Cheng said.<\/p>\n

“We hope Taiwan can expand its international relations and make as many friends as possible,” Cheng said.<\/p>\n

Cheng, who is scheduled to be sworn in as KMT chairperson on Saturday, spoke to reporters on Friday after her DW interview<\/a> was published earlier that day.<\/p>\n

In the context of discussing cross-strait relations during the DW interview, Cheng criticized President Lai Ching-te (\u8cf4\u6e05\u5fb7) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), saying “their words and actions could very well turn Taiwan into a second Ukraine.”<\/p>\n

When challenged by DW’s Tsou Tzung-han (\u9112\u5b97\u7ff0), who said that when facing a dictator, only the dictator — not a democratic government — can decide whether war breaks out, Cheng replied, “Putin is not a dictator; he is a leader elected through democratic votes.”<\/p>\n

Cheng said Russia had been a democracy for many years, adding that “no country in the world has a perfect democracy — even today, the United States faces many democratic issues that need reform.”<\/p>\n

“Given he [Putin] became president because he was elected via a democratic vote, you can’t call him a dictator. Labeling him that way is unreasonable and unfair,” she said.<\/p>\n

When Tsou then asked her whether it was Putin who decided to start the war in Ukraine, Cheng replied, “Of course not.”<\/p>\n

“The core reason the war broke out and continues today is NATO’s repeated eastward expansion,” Cheng said.<\/p>\n

Cheng contended that if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and allied countries had long ago abandoned plans to let Ukraine join NATO, “none of this would have happened.”<\/p>\n

Following the same logic, Cheng said that a war across the Taiwan Strait would not be solely decided by Chinese President Xi Jinping (\u7fd2\u8fd1\u5e73).<\/p>\n

She implicitly criticized the DPP for reducing Taiwan to a pawn of the U.S., saying that under her leadership, the KMT would ensure Taiwan plays a key role, rather than leaving decisions solely to Xi or U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Later Friday, approached by reporters for a comment in the Legislature, Deputy Foreign Minister Fran\u00e7ois Wu (\u5433\u5fd7\u4e2d), who previously served as Taiwan’s representative to France, said that “Europe likely does not share this view.”<\/p>\n

“By this logic, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would not be considered a dictator either, since he was also elected,” Wu said.<\/p>\n

Although Hussein never participated in a general election, a widely disputed 1995 referendum on his presidency passed with a 99.99 percent “yes” vote.<\/p>\n

(By Wang Cheng-chung and Shih Hsiu-chuan) <\/p>\n

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