DATE=3/15/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=TAIWAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN
NUMBER=5-45647
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=TAIPEI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: As Taiwan's presidential campaign heads for
the day of decision Saturday amid what observers say
is a race too close to call, name calling and negative
advertising are having a field day as each of the
three main candidates try to woo undecided voters.
But, as VOA correspondent Roger Wilkison reports,
campaign aides say that -whatever the final result-
Taiwan's democracy is mature enough to guarantee a
stable transition.
TEXT: The three-man horse race involves Vice-
President Lien Chan of the ruling Nationalist Party,
Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party,
and James Soong - a former Nationalist stalwart
running as an independent.
The campaign has been dominated by threats from China,
which regards Taiwan as a wayward province that must
be reunited with the mainland. China has warned the
island that it risks attack if it moves toward formal
independence or if it drags its feet on entering
reunification talks with Beijing.
The Taiwanese media report that Mr. Chen's campaign
has gained momentum in recent days after the
opposition party candidate received several key
endorsements. Mr. Chen and his party are proposing an
all-out war on corruption, and that won him the
support of Taiwan's most respected intellectual, Lee
Yuan-tseh, a Nobel laureate in chemistry who is known
as the "conscience of Taiwan".
But, to many Taiwanese, Mr. Chen is also viewed as a
strong supporter of the island's independence, even
though he has backed away from that stand during the
campaign. Still, his rivals have turned their heavy
artillery on him, saying he is unacceptable to Beijing
and therefore dangerous.
Nationalist Party legislator Lee Shangren says
Taiwanese are nervous about a Chen victory.
/////LEE ACTUALITY/////
Once Chen Shui-bian is elected as president, people
here in Taiwan are afraid that probably we will have a
disastrous war between Taiwan and mainland China.
/////END ACTUALITY/////
But Mr. Chen's aides liken their man to the late U-S
President Richard Nixon, who -- despite his
credentials as an anti-communist -- initiated U-S
contacts with China in 1972 at the height of the Cold
War. Shen Fu-Hsiung, a legislator from Mr. Chen's
party, says Beijing is doing everything it can to
prevent a Chen victory because of Mr. Chen's pro-
independence past. But he says Beijing will find Mr.
Chen the ideal man to deal with because Taiwanese know
he will never betray their interests.
/////SHEN ACTUALITY/////
After the victory, after the campaign is over, I think
they will realize they have to deal with our
government. And they will be surprised to find out
that, actually, Mr. Chen is more flexible than anyone
else.
/////END ACTUALITY/////
Mr. Lien and Mr. Soong are also trying to portray
themselves as reformers. Mr. Lien has offered to put
his Nationalist Party's billions of dollars in assets
into a trust fund and to sever the link between
government and business. But the Nationalists have
been in power in Taiwan for 51 years and are perceived
by many Taiwanese to be tainted, if not corrupt. Mr.
Soong, too, has problems. As a Nationalist bigwig, he
controlled a party slush fund. The disclosure of that
information has led to questions about his integrity,
although Mr. Soong says he never spent any taxpayers'
money and blames incumbent President Lee Teng-hui for
trying to frame him.
Nationalist legislator Lee Shangren says a Soong
victory would be worse than a Chen victory because Mr.
Soong controls only one out of every ten members of
the Legislative Yuan -- Taiwan's parliament -- and
could never get his programs approved there.
/////LEE ACTUALITY/////
He cannot control the Legislative Yuan. And anything
he proposes to the Legislative Yuan can be rejected.
How can such a political situation be stable?
/////END ACTUALITY/////
But Huang Yih-jiau -- a pro-Soong lawmaker -- has a
different take. He says legislators from the K-M-T --
as the Nationalist Party is also known -- will quickly
join up with Mr. Soong if he wins the presidency.
/////HUANG ACTUALITY/////
I think that, if we get elected, the so-called party
big wheels of the K-M-T will run away. They will
disappear just like snow melting under the sun. You
know what I mean. They will join us.
/////END ACTUALITY/////
With the Nationalists controlling the Legislative Yuan
and its sister body, the National Assembly, Mr.
Huang's assertion may or may not be true. But aides
to both Mr. Soong and Mr. Chen promise to reach out to
the Nationalists and, indeed, to all sectors of
society and forge a government of national unity if
they win.
One thing aides to all candidates agree on is that
Taiwan will weather any change of government. Mr.
Lee, of the Nationalists, says the transition will be
calm and stable.
/////LEE ACTUALITY/////
We have to respect the result of the campaign, and,
whomever wins the presidential election, we will call
him President.
/////END ACTUALITY/////
The three legislators say Taiwan's democracy is strong
enough to absorb a change and that the island's 22
million people would not have it any other way.
(SIGNED)
NEB/RW/FC
15-Mar-2000 06:13 AM EDT (15-Mar-2000 1113 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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