Presidential debate sees attacks on media, personal vitriol

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/29
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Dec. 29 (CNA) Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the Kuomintang (KMT) lashed out at media questions and its behavior at Sunday's televised presidential debate, which also saw plenty of personal vitriol between Han and incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

Han blasted Apple Daily and Sanlih E-Television over what he felt was the ongoing smear campaign he has been subject to since he successfully ran for Kaohsiung mayor in the second half of 2018.

In Sunday's debate, five media representatives each asked the candidates a question in the second part of the debate, after the opening statements, and it was a question by the tabloid-like Apple Daily, the largest newspaper in the country, that set him off.

Apple Daily editor-in-chief Tsai Jih-yun (蔡日雲) brought up a payment Han made to a woman surnamed Wang (with whom he allegedly had an extramarital relationship) and asked him how he could convince people he was somebody who was trustworthy and they could vote for.
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