DATE=3/17/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=TAIWAN CANDIDATES
NUMBER=5-45667
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=TAIPEI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Taiwanese voters head for the polls Saturday
to elect a new president in what is regarded as a too-
close-to-call three-man race. VOA correspondent Roger
Wilkison profiles the candidates and their policies on
the crucial issue of Taiwan's ties to China.
TEXT: Lien Chan of the ruling Nationalist Party, Chen
Shui-bian of the main opposition Democratic
Progressive Party and independent candidate James
Soong are vying to succeed President Lee Teng-hui.
Mr. Lien - currently vice president and Mr. Lee's
chosen successor - is a member of one of Taiwan's
wealthiest families. The 63-year-old career
government official earned a doctorate in political
science from the University of Chicago and is married
to a former beauty queen. But his image - especially
among young Taiwanese - is that of a boring,
uncharismatic technocrat. And, in a typical example
of the negative advertising that has been pervasive
throughout the campaign, he is portrayed as an idle
aristocrat who plays golf while criminals ride
roughshod over the island.
Mr. Lien has tried to paint himself as a reformer,
promising to place his party's vast business assets
into a trust to dispel popular suspicions that the
Nationalists are heavily engaged in money politics.
But the opposition's attempts to pin graft charges on
him personally - as opposed to his party - have gotten
nowhere.
Chen Shui-bian made a name for himself as a lawyer for
dissidents and later as a legislator and no-nonsense
mayor of Taipei. Mr. Chen's folksy style and vows to
end corruption have made him one of Taiwan's most
popular politicians. The only one of the three
candidates born on the island, he appeals to native
Taiwanese, most of whom have no interest in being part
of China.
Mr. Chen's detractors call the 48-year-old farmer's
son arrogant, chameleon-like (changeable) and a
warmonger. His party advocates formal independence
from China, although he has taken a softer stance
during the campaign. The prospect of a Chen victory
has alarmed Beijing, which has threatened Taiwan with
dire consequences if voters choose him as their new
president.
The third candidate, James Soong, was a Nationalist
Party insider until he rejected President Lee's choice
of Mr. Lien as his successor and mounted his own
independent campaign. As a Nationalist stalwart, the
58-year-old former Taiwan provincial governor
developed a reputation as a can-do politician who cut
through bureaucracy, approved public works projects
and solved problems for the common people.
He has visited virtually every village in Taiwan
during the campaign and was the early front-runner.
But his popularity fell after the Nationalists
disclosed that he handled millions of dollars in
secret party funds and put some of them in his son's
account. In the name-calling that has been a
prominent feature of the campaign, Mr. Soong's rivals
have accused him of being a turncoat, a thief and of
speaking out of both sides of his mouth.
A central issue in the later stages of the campaign
has been China's threat that Taiwan risks war if it
goes its own way or drags its heels on reunification.
The three candidates pretty much agree that the best
policy for Taiwan is to maintain the status quo,
whereby the island enjoys de facto independence while
it keeps Beijing at bay by paying lip service to
eventual reunification. But there are some
differences.
Mr. Lien maintains that the Republic of China on
Taiwan and the People's Republic of China have been
governed separately since 1949 and that negotiations
on reunification can begin as soon as Beijing
recognizes Taipei as a political equal. But, in his
view, reunification itself cannot be considered until
China becomes a democracy like Taiwan.
Mr. Chen now says he would not declare independence or
change the name of the island to the Republic of
Taiwan if he is elected. But he maintains that Taiwan
is a sovereign country and that only the island's
people - and not China - have a right to decide its
future.
Mr. Soong defines Taiwan's status as one of relative
sovereignty. He has proposed signing a 30-year peace
treaty with China, after which the two sides could
form a union modeled on the European Union before
deciding whether to form a unified country.
Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a wayward province,
has rejected all of these positions. (signed)
NEB/RW/JO
17-Mar-2000 08:35 AM EDT (17-Mar-2000 1335 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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