‘MAKING A STAND’: Han respects the freedom of the press, but he also believes that reports should be verified before being released, his spokeswoman said

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 31, 2019
By: Ann Maxon, Lin Liang-sheng and Dennis Xie  /  Staff Reporters, with staff writer

Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) lashed out at the media during the televised presidential

debate on Sunday because the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate is a “long-time victim” of “irresponsible news” and he was “making a stand against injustice,” his campaign office spokeswoman Anne Wang (王淺秋) said yesterday.

During the question-and-answer segment of the debate, the Apple Daily asked Han about the allegation that he gave NT$6 million (US$199,104 at the current exchange rate) to a female friend to buy real estate, to which Han responded by calling the Chinese-language media company “extremely low-class” for probing into his private life.

“Why don’t you ask at what age I lost my virginity?” he said.

When the Central News Agency asked how he planned to establish good cross-strait relations, Han said that the question was “too narrow” with respect to Taiwan’s status “by tying itself up with political ideology.”    [FULL  STORY]