DATE=3/18/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TAIWAN VOTES (L)
NUMBER=2-260309
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=TAIPEI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Voters in Taiwan are trooping to the polls to
choose a new president Saturday in what could be a
decisive election, not only for the island's future
but also for its always delicate relations with China.
VOA correspondent Roger Wilkison reports officials say
they expect a high turnout.
TEXT: More than 15-million Taiwanese are eligible to
vote in what is only the second democratic
presidential election in the island's history.
Officials are saying they expect the turnout to be at
least 75 per cent, about the same as the last such
election four years ago.
Three candidates are locked in a tight race for the
island's top job. They are Vice President Lien Chan,
of the ruling Nationalist Party, former Taipei mayor
Chen Shui-bian, who represents the Democratic
Progressive Party, and former Nationalist stalwart
James Soong, now running as an independent.
Most of the attention is on Mr. Chen, who is disliked
by China for his past advocacy of formal independence
for Taiwan. Even though he has moved away from that
position, China has warned the island's voters not to
choose him as their next president.
Lin Win-yih is a retired Taiwanese schoolteacher, and
he says China's threats may make some people fearful
of voting for Mr. Chen but they make him angry.
/////LIN ACTUALITY/////
It certainly affects some but not much and such kind
of attitude, we think it's ugly.Taiwan is Taiwan.
China is China.
/////END ACTUALITY/////
That's a common feeling in Taiwan. Every year, polls
show the number of people who consider themselves
Taiwanese as opposed to Chinese is growing. Last
month, one such poll showed that 45 percent of the
population identified themselves as Taiwanese compared
to 14 percent who see themselves as Chinese and 39
percent who say they are both. That is not good news
for Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a wayward
province that must be reunited with the mainland.
Frank Hsu, a mechanic, is one of those who consider
themselves Taiwanese.
/////HSU ACTUALITY/////
I'm born here. I love here. I love this country. I
will guard this country.
/////END ACTUALITY/////
But Mr. Hsu, whose parents came from the mainland,
still holds out hope that Taiwan and China will form a
single country some day. But he hastens to add: not
for another 50 years.
Lisa Chiu is a university student. She says she and
most of her friends usually stay away from politics,
but not this time. And she says though Mr. Chen was a
good mayor, she's frightened by his lack of foreign
policy experience and will vote for Mr. Soong, the
independent candidate.
/////CHIU ACTUALITY/////
We're really concerned about what party's going to get
elected in the future and our relationship with
mainland China also.You can't elect someone who's good
on domestic policy and yet has no diplomatic skills.
/////END ACTUALITY/////
At a Taipei high school packed with voters and
television camera crews,(INSERT AMBIENT SOUND) Mr.
Chen arrives to cast his ballot. Trailed by his
wheelchair-bound wife -paralyzed in a traffic accident
he says was an assassination attempt 15 years ago-
the candidate gets in line like everybody else. After
voting, he tells reporters Taiwan's exercise in
democracy should be a matter of pride for Chinese
everywhere.
/////CHEN ACTUALITY (IN CHINESE) ESTABLISH AND
FADE/////
Mr. Chen says he hopes the mainland can feel the power
and the example of Taiwan's democracy. He also says,
that if elected, he would like to go to China before
his inauguration in May. But, he adds, if the Chinese
leaders don't want him there, he is willing to meet
with them in Tokyo, Hong Kong or Singapore. And he
says one of his first tasks will be to form an all-
party commission to forge a consensus on what Taiwan's
cross-strait policy should be. (signed)
NEB/RW/PLM
18-Mar-2000 01:17 AM EDT (18-Mar-2000 0617 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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