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President, DPP head to face off in January election

ROC Central News Agency

2011/04/27 22:23:41

By S. C. Chang, Jay Chen, Lin Shen-hsu, Lee Shu-hua and Sofia Wu

Taipei, April 27 (CNA) The battle lines were drawn Wednesday for the 2012 presidential election, pitting opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen against President Ma Ying-jeou who is seeking his second and final four-year term.

The DPP threw down the gauntlet earlier in the day by announcing its 54-year-old chairwoman as the winner of its three-way primary. The party is scheduled to formally announce Tsai's candidacy on May 4.

Shortly afterwards, the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) officially nominated Ma as its candidate for the next presidential election. Ma was the only KMT member who registered to be considered for the party's presidential nomination.

After the party's decision-making Central Standing Committee unanimously approved Ma's candidacy at its weekly meeting, the president said he would continue to promote reforms and move the country forward if re-elected.

"Changes have already occurred, and reforms must not be interrupted," said Ma, 60, in his acceptance speech.

Though he did not elaborate on the reforms he would pursue, Ma enumerated his administration's achievements during his three years in office and rebutted opposition charges that his policies were too pro-China and had betrayed Taiwan.

Ma said Taiwan faced a number of challenges soon after he took over the presidency from Chen Shui-bian of the DPP. These included the global financial crisis, severe flooding from Typhoon Morakot and the spread of a new flu virus, he said.

"Hand in hand, we have weathered all these difficulties, " he said, comparing Taiwan to a confident, high-flying eagle that had soared even higher as the winds turned stronger.

Hitting back at the DPP, the president said he was the one who had defended Taiwan's dignity and it was the DPP that had proved its incompetence through its closed-door policy.

For more than 10 years, "the DPP has accused me of being pro-China and of betraying Taiwan, " he said. "I have used my actions to prove that these were nothing but ill-intentioned accusations."

According to Ma, his government's China policy was very clear that all things related to cross-strait exchanges had to be done in an open and transparent way.

Ma said that as a man of action rather than somebody who engages in rhetoric, he would use his actions to lead Taiwan toward a bright future in his second term.

On the DPP front, Tsai said she will unite the party and ordinary people to win next year's presidential election.

Touting the primary as a truly pluralistic, democratic race, Tsai said the result does not mean a personal victory, but rather represents a step forward for the whole party.

Tsai said she cannot on her own achieve the goal of returning the DPP to power and needs the support of her two rivals in the primary, all other party members and ordinary Taiwanese people.

"Let's together shoulder the responsibility of winning back Taiwan," Tsai said.

A law professor by profession, Tsai recalled that after she assumed the DPP chairmanship three years ago she came to realize that the party had no assets and its strength lay purely in the support of its members and ordinary supporters.

Tsai, who served as Taiwan's top China policy planner and later as vice premier during the DPP administration (2000 to 2008), is the country's first female presidential candidate.

She beat two DPP veterans -- former Premier Su Tseng-chang and former DPP Chairman Hsu Hsin-liang -- in specially designed telephone surveys, known as "contrast style polling, " conducted on Monday and Tuesday.

After learning of his narrow loss to Tsai, Su congratulated Tsai, precluding the possibility of any legal challenge. He also pledged his full support for Tsai's presidential bid.

Hsu, who finished a distant third the DPP primary, said his party must work harder to reassure "economic voters" about their future as Taiwan tries to improve its ties with mainland China.

Meanwhile, the Taiwan Solidarity Unity (TSU) , which shares the DPP's pro-independence stance, said it will support the DPP nominee in the next presidential election. Former President Lee Teng-hui is the TSU's spiritual leader.